Panel: NSA's targeting of foreigners is lawful
WASHINGTON - An independent executive-branch board has concluded that a major National Security Agency program targeting foreigners overseas is lawful and effective but that certain elements push "close to the line" of being unconstitutional.
WASHINGTON - An independent executive-branch board has concluded that a major National Security Agency program targeting foreigners overseas is lawful and effective but that certain elements push "close to the line" of being unconstitutional.
The "unknown and potentially large" collection by the agency of e-mails and phone calls of Americans who communicate with foreign targets is one aspect that raises concerns, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board said in a report released online.
But the board did not go as far in its recommendations as privacy advocates would like. It would leave in place the government's ability to conduct warrantless searches for Americans' communications in the data gathered by the NSA.
191 pages
At issue is a program authorized by Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, an effort to bring under the law a surveillance effort after the 9/11 attacks.
Under the law, the government can target "non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located abroad." It is not required to obtain individualized warrants, even though the collection is done inside the United States.
The 191-page report comes after a year of heightened debate over U.S. surveillance practices in the wake of leaks of NSA documents to journalists by former agency contractor Edward Snowden.
Standards met
In January, the board issued a report that concluded that a different NSA program involving the collection of Americans' phone call records was illegal and should end. The agency's gathering of billions of such "metadata" records - numbers dialed, times, and durations - did not comply with the law, the board found.
Unlike the metadata program, Section 702 "fits within the 'totality of the circumstances' standard of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment," it said.
It has enabled the government to obtain a greater range of intelligence than it otherwise would be able to, and to do so quickly and effectively, the board said, and has led to previously unknown individuals involved in terrorism.