More NSA Surveillance Documents Declassified

Like its predecessor, this latest cache apparently was released in connection with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  And, like its predecessor, this latest cache stands to tell a complicated and important story, which we hope to unpack in the next few days. Below you'll find the the documents, which evidently concern activities conducted pursuant to Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.  We're told that, in all, the documents amount to about 1,800 pages.  Each document is linked separately.

Cover Letters for Congressional Submissions

March 5, 2009 -- Cover Letter to Chairman of the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees Cover letter submitting several Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinions and Government filings relating to the Government’s discovery and remediation of compliance incidents in its handling of bulk telephony metadata under docket number BR 08-13, described below.

September 3, 2009 -- Cover Letter to Chairman of the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees Cover letter submitting the Government’s report to the Court and NSA’s end-to-end review describing its investigation and remediation of compliance incidents in its handling of bulk telephony metadata under docket number BR-09-09, described below.

Docket Number BR 06-05

May 24, 2006 -- Order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Order of the FISC approving the Government’s request for authorization to collect bulk telephony metadata under Section 501 of FISA.

Docket Number BR 08-13

December 12, 2008 -- Supplemental Opinion from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Opinion of the FISC concluding that the production of bulk telephony metadata records pursuant to Section 501 of FISA is not inconsistent with Sections 2702 and 2703 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

January 28, 2009 -- Order Regarding Preliminary Notice of Compliance Incident Dated January 15, 2009 from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Order of the FISC directing the Government to provide additional information regarding its identification and notification that NSA had improperly queried the bulk telephony metadata by using an automated “alert list” process that resulted in the use of selectors that had not been individually reviewed and determined to meet he required reasonable articulable suspicion standard.

February 12, 2009 -- Memorandum of the United States in response to the Court's Order Dated January 28, 2009, with attachments: Memorandum of the Government providing additional information relating to the compliance incident described directly above and describing additional oversight mechanisms deployed by the Government following identification of this compliance incident.

• (Tab 1) Declaration of Lieutenant General Keith B. Alexander signed February 13, 2009
  • Attachment A:  Internal NSA Email
  • Attachment B:  NSA Interim Procedures
  • Attachment C:  Former Process for alert list process
  • Attachment D:  Internal NSA Email
  • Attachment E:  NSA Inspector General Report
  • Attachment F:  Letter from the NSA Inspector General
  • Attachment G:  NSA, Signals Intelligence Directorate Office of Oversight and Compliance Response to the IG Report
  • Attachment H-J:  Withheld from Public Release

February 26, 2009 -- Notice of Compliance Incident Memorandum of the Government providing the FISC with notice of additional compliance incidents identified during NSA’s ongoing end-to-end review of the telephony metadata program.

March 2, 2009 -- Order from the Foreign Intelligence Court

In light of the compliance incidents identified and reported by the Government, the FISC ordered NSA to seek Court approval to query the telephony metadata on a case-by-case basis, except where necessary to protect against an imminent threat to human life “until such time as the Government is able to restore the Court’s confidence that the government can and will comply with the previously approved [Court] procedures for accessing such data.”

Docket Number BR 09-06

June 22, 2009 -- Order In response to the Government’s reporting of a compliance incident related to NSA’s dissemination of certain query results discovered during NSA’s end-to-end review, the FISC ordered the Government to report on a weekly basis, any disseminations of information from the metadata telephony program outside of NSA and provide further explanation of the incident in its final report upon completion of the end-to-end review.

 Docket Number BR 09-09

August 19, 2009 -- Report of the United States with attachments: Report of the Government describing the compliance issues uncovered during NSA’s end-to-end review, including an explanation for how the compliance issues were remedied.  Attached to the Report are declarations of the value of the bulk telephony metadata program from the Directors of NSA and the FBI.

June 25, 2009 -- Implementation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Authorized Business Records FISA NSA's end-to-end review of it's implementation of the FISC's authorization under Section 215.

Docket Number BR 09-13

September 3, 2009 -- Primary Order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Order of the FISC renewing authorization for the bulk telephony metadata program, and no longer requiring NSA to seek FISC approval to query the telephony metadata program on a case-by-case basis.

September 25, 2009 -- Order Regarding Further Compliance Incidence from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court In response to the Government’s identification and notice to the FISC regarding improper dissemination of information related to an ongoing threat, the FISC ordered a hearing to inform the FISC of the scope and circumstances of the compliance incident.

Docket Number BR: 09-15

November 5, 2009 -- Supplemental Opinion and Order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Supplemental Opinion and Order of the FISC reiterating Court ordered restrictions on NSA’s handling of query results of the telephony metadata program, and directing the Government to provide the court with additional information regarding queries of the telephony metadata.