EPIC, Coalition Demand Estimate of U.S. Persons’ Communications Incidentally Collected Under FISA Section 702

In a letter to the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the National Security Agency, a coalition of civil society organizations demanded the intelligence community publish the previously promised estimate of the number of U.S. persons’ communications collected “incidentally” under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As the coalition notes, “this information has been requested by legislators since at least 2011, and by civil society organizations since at least 2015.” Additionally, the former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates pledged at his confirmation hearing to provide a number and a similar pledge was made by NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett. EPIC was among the civil society groups who previously called for an estimate back in 2015.

The “incidentally” collected communications of U.S. persons has allowed the government, particularly the FBI, to conduct warrantless searches of Americans’ communications. EPIC, among many others, have called for the end of these warrantless backdoor searches.