The ODNI has released its annual statistical transparency report on the use of national security authorities.
The report, which includes statistics related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, has been released every year since 2014. It includes statistics within FISA Probable Cause Authorities, FISA Section 702, Use in Criminal Proceedings, Pen Register and Trap and Trace Devices and Business Records and National Security Letters.
It found that there were 1,437 FISA Probable Cause Orders, down from 1,559 in 2016. Of these orders, 1,038 involved non-U.S. persons.
The report also showed that there were 129,080 estimated targets of Section 702 FISA, up from 106,469 in 2016.
“We’re pleased to publish our fifth annual statistical transparency report. This report provides hard data on how we use key authorities. To properly understand these statistics, context is important,” said Alex Joel, who leads ODNI’s Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy, and Transparency said. “Conveying that context clearly and understandably is a difficult challenge, given how complicated these authorities are. Each year, we try to find ways to improve clarity, and to lean forward in providing information that will give meaning to these numbers.”
