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Section 702 report. The court approved these revised procedures as part of the annual
certification process.

The Board agrees that the changes implement the Board’s recommendation.

Recommendation 3: Require NSA and CIA Personnel to Provide a

Statement of Facts Explaining their Foreign Intelligence Purpose Before
Querying Section 702 Data Using U.S. Person Identifiers, and Develop
Written Guidance on Applying this Standard

Status:
Being implemented

Text of the Board’s Recommendation:

The NSA and CIA minimization procedures should permit the agencies to query collected
Section 702 data for foreign intelligence purposes using U.S. person identifiers only if the
query is based upon a statement of facts showing that it is reasonably likely to return
foreign intelligence information as defined in FISA. The NSA and CIA should develop
written guidance for agents and analysts as to what information and documentation is
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needed to meet this standard, including specific examples.
Explanation for the Recommendation:

Under the NSA and CIA minimization procedures for the Section 702 program, analysts are
permitted to perform queries of databases that hold communications acquired under
Section 702 using query terms that involve U.S. person identifiers. Such queries are
designed to identify communications in the database that involve or contain information
relating to a U.S. person. Although the Board recognizes that NSA and CIA queries are
subject to rigorous oversight by the DOJ’s National Security Division and the ODNI (with
the exception of metadata queries at the CIA, which are not reviewed by the oversight
team), we believe that NSA and CIA analysts, before conducting a query involving a U.S.
person identifier, should provide a statement of facts illustrating why they believe the
5
query is reasonably likely to return foreign intelligence information. Implementing these
measures will help to ensure that analysts at the NSA and CIA do not access or view
communications acquired under Section 702 that involve or concern U.S. persons when
there is no valid foreign intelligence reason to do so.

4 Board Chairman David Medine and Board Member Patricia Wald joined this recommendation but in
a separate statement recommended requiring judicial approval for the use of U.S. person queries of Section
702 data for foreign intelligence purposes.
5 Board Member Elisebeth Collins would not extend a new requirement to this effect to metadata
queries.

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