{
  "id": "RL33320",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL33320",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 443560,
      "date": "2015-07-30",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T18:42:01.240924",
      "title": "National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: Legal Background",
      "summary": "Five federal statutes authorize intelligence officials to request certain business record information in connection with national security investigations. The authority to issue these national security letters (NSL) is comparable to the authority to issue administrative subpoenas. The USA PATRIOT Act (P.L. 107-56) expanded the authority under the original four NSL statutes and created a fifth. Thereafter, the authority was reported to have been widely used. Then, a report by the Department of Justice\u2019s Inspector General (IG) found that in its use of expanded USA PATRIOT Act authority the FBI had \u201cused NSLs in violation of applicable NSL statutes, Attorney General Guidelines, and internal FBI policies,\u201d although it concluded that no criminal laws had been broken. A year later, a second IG report confirmed the findings of the first, and noted the corrective measures taken in response. A third IG report, critical of the FBI\u2019s use of exigent letters and informal NSL alternatives, noted that the practice had been stopped and related problems addressed.\nThe USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act (P.L. 109-177, and its companion, P.L. 109-178) amended the five NSL statutes to expressly provide for judicial review of both the NSLs and the confidentiality requirements that attend them. The sections were made explicitly subject to judicial enforcement and to sanctions for failure to comply with an NSL request or to breach NSL confidentiality requirements. Prospects of its continued use dimmed, however, after two lower federal courts held that the absolute confidentiality requirements and the limitations on judicial review rendered one of the NSL statutes constitutionally suspect. \nThe President\u2019s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies recommended several NSL statutory adjustments designed to eliminate differences between NSLs and court orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (\u201c\u00a7215 orders\u201d), including requiring pre-issuance judicial approval of NSLs. Instead in the USA FREEDOM Act, P.L. 114-23 (H.R. 2048), Congress opted to adjust the NSL judicial review provisions governing the nondisclosure requirements which may accompany NSLs. It also precludes the use of NSL authority for bulk collection of communications or financial records. Finally, it adjusts existing reporting requirements to permit recipients to publicly disclose the extent to which they have been compelled to comply with NSLs. \nThe text of the five NSL statutory provisions has been appended. This report is available abridged\u2014without footnotes, appendices, and most of the citations to authority\u2014as CRS Report RS22406, National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: A Glimpse at the Legal Background, by Charles Doyle.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": true,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL33320",
          "sha1": "0445600d1325d9b49a6f60a036a9eed4814998bb",
          "filename": "files/20150730_RL33320_0445600d1325d9b49a6f60a036a9eed4814998bb.html",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL33320",
          "sha1": "3d55452283fba753738bc4f6821ac6edf650d973",
          "filename": "files/20150730_RL33320_3d55452283fba753738bc4f6821ac6edf650d973.pdf",
          "images": null
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 2170,
          "name": "Government Information: Transparency, Protection, and Access"
        },
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 2496,
          "name": "Crime and Punishment"
        },
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 2684,
          "name": "Civil Liberties and National Security"
        },
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 3456,
          "name": "Terrorism and Counterterrorism Policy"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc272096/",
      "id": "RL33320_2014Jan03",
      "date": "2014-01-03",
      "retrieved": "2014-02-03T19:46:03",
      "title": "National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: A Glimpse at the Legal Background",
      "summary": "This report reprints the text of the five National Security Letter (NSL) statutes as they now appear and as they appeared prior to amendment by the USA PATRIOT Act (to which form they would be returned under S.1125 and H.R. 1805).",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20140103_RL33320_9e006e24b97b01ff6a2131c5f68db9e39a5f3b39.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20140103_RL33320_9e006e24b97b01ff6a2131c5f68db9e39a5f3b39.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Intelligence activities",
          "name": "Intelligence activities"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Defense policy",
          "name": "Defense policy"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Politics and government",
          "name": "Politics and government"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc689431/",
      "id": "RL33320_2009Sep08",
      "date": "2009-09-08",
      "retrieved": "2015-08-03T15:06:47",
      "title": "National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: Legal Background and Recent Amendments",
      "summary": "This report discusses the National Security Letters (NSLs), which seek customer and consumer transaction information in national security investigations from communications providers, financial institutions, and credit agencies.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20090908_RL33320_96bd1d2814c4dd823e9668b577ba186006ec07cf.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20090908_RL33320_96bd1d2814c4dd823e9668b577ba186006ec07cf.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Business intelligence",
          "name": "Business intelligence"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Espionage",
          "name": "Espionage"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Intelligence activities",
          "name": "Intelligence activities"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Intelligence services",
          "name": "Intelligence services"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc815996/",
      "id": "RL33320_2008Mar28",
      "date": "2008-03-28",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: Legal Background and Recent Amendments",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20080328_RL33320_0fd9dd5f5f186ffeb158061dbe62a09633b086b3.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20080328_RL33320_0fd9dd5f5f186ffeb158061dbe62a09633b086b3.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc814758/",
      "id": "RL33320_2007Mar20",
      "date": "2007-03-20",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: Legal Background and Recent Amendments",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20070320_RL33320_468dee2cc1b31a1642752ece2ce72c1b6144aa6c.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20070320_RL33320_468dee2cc1b31a1642752ece2ce72c1b6144aa6c.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs10850/",
      "id": "RL33320 2006-03-17",
      "date": "2006-03-17",
      "retrieved": "2006-08-21T16:41:58",
      "title": "National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: Legal Background and Recent Amendments",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20060317_RL33320_367af13f3b53a28d6703389cf570326b032cb409.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20060317_RL33320_367af13f3b53a28d6703389cf570326b032cb409.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Defense policy",
          "name": "Defense policy"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Freedom of speech",
          "name": "Freedom of speech"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Constitutional amendments - U.S. - 1",
          "name": "Constitutional amendments - U.S. - 1"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Security clearances",
          "name": "Security clearances"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "National security",
          "name": "National security"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Civil liberties",
          "name": "Civil liberties"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Constitution",
          "name": "Constitution"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Intelligence activities",
          "name": "Intelligence activities"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Constitutional Questions",
    "Intelligence and National Security"
  ]
}