Office of the Director of National Intelligence

  • ODNI Releases Framework for Commercially Available Information

    May 10, 2024

    On May 8, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released its framework for commercially available information. The new framework sets out guidelines for intelligence agencies’ purchase and use of commercial data, but does not restrict the types of data—such as location or web browsing information—agencies may purchase.

    • Intelligence Surveillance

    • Surveillance Oversight

    • Updates

  • EPIC, Coalition Statement Following Meeting with DNI Haines, Senior Intelligence Community Officials

    September 8, 2023

    Over a dozen privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties groups from across the political spectrum met yesterday with Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines and other high ranking intelligence community officials to discuss Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA 702), and connected surveillance issues such as data purchases and surveillance pursuant to Executive Order 12333.

    • FISA Section 702

    • Intelligence Surveillance

    • Surveillance Oversight

    • Statements

  • EPIC, Bipartisan Coalition of Civil Society Groups Call Out Government’s Failure to Propose Meaningful Reform of Warrantless Surveillance Authorities

    September 7, 2023

    EPIC joined a bipartisan coalition of civil liberties organizations in underscoring the need for significant reform to warrantless government surveillance activities ahead of a meeting with Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines and other senior intelligence officials on September 7 to discuss Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

    • FISA Section 702

    • Intelligence Surveillance

    • Surveillance Oversight

    • Updates

  • ODNI Report on Intelligence Agencies’ Data Purchases Underscores Urgency of Reform

    July 7, 2023

    The report found that the IC is collecting increasing amounts of CAI—including sensitive information like location data—but does not know how much CAI it is collecting, what types, or even what it is doing with that data.

    • Intelligence Surveillance

    • Surveillance Oversight

    • Analysis

  • ODNI Releases Partially Declassified Report on Data Purchases in Response to EPIC FOIA

    June 12, 2023

    As EPIC Law Fellow Chris Baumohl told Wired: “This report makes it clear that the government continues to think that it can buy its way out of constitutional protections using taxpayers’ own money. Congress must tackle the government’s data broker pipeline this year, before it considers any reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).”

    • FISA Section 702

    • Intelligence Surveillance

    • Surveillance Oversight

    • Updates

  • New ODNI National Security Transparency Report Reveals Steady Increase in Section 702 Surveillance, Continued Warrantless Querying Issues

    May 1, 2023

    On April 28, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released its Annual Statistical Transparency Report Regarding the Intelligence Community’s Use of National Security Surveillance Authorities, which shows a steady increase in targeting under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)—up to nearly 250,000 in 2022—and continued noncompliance with Congressional safeguards.

    • Intelligence Surveillance

    • PATRIOT Act

    • Surveillance Oversight

    • Updates

  • EPIC Seeks ODNI-Led Report on Government Data Purchases

    March 29, 2023

    PIC submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) concerning an ODNI-led report on the government’s purchase of data, including sensitive data on Americans.

    • FISA Section 702

    • Intelligence Surveillance

    • Surveillance Oversight

    • Updates

  • New Executive Order on Signals Intelligence: A Meaningful—but Insufficient—Step Forward

    December 6, 2022

    On October 7, President Biden signed an Executive Order which imposes new limitations on U.S. surveillance programs and creates a new redress mechanism for data subjects abroad. This Executive Order is intended to replace the now-defunct Privacy Shield program but is unlikely to satisfy the European Union (EU) legal standards for privacy protections.

    • Data Protection

    • Intelligence Surveillance

    • International Privacy

    • Surveillance Oversight

    • Analysis