50 U.S.C. § 1873 — Annual reports

(a) Report by Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. (1) Report required. Each year, after declassification review by the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence, the Administrative Office Director must report to the House intelligence and Judiciary committees and Senate intelligence and Judiciary committees: (A) applications or certifications for orders under §§ 1805, 1824, 1842, 1861, 1881a, 1881b, and 1881c; (B) orders granted under each; (C) orders modified under each; (D) applications or certifications denied under each; (E) appointments of people as “amicus curiae” under § 1803, including each name; (F) findings under § 1803(i) that appointment is inappropriate and each finding’s text; and (G) uses by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or its Court of Review of authority under 18 U.S.C. chapter 21, with a description of each use. This section does not define “amicus curiae.” (2) Publication. The Director must publish the report on an Internet website, but must not publish the subsection (a)(1)(F) findings there.

(b) Mandatory reporting by Director of National Intelligence. Except as subsection (d) provides, each year the Director must publish a report for the preceding 12 months identifying (1) total orders under subchapters I and II and §§ 1881b and 1881c, plus good-faith estimates of (A) all targets, (B) targets known not to be United States persons, and (C) targets known to be United States persons; (2) total orders under § 1881a, including subsection (f)(2) orders, plus estimates of (A) targets, (B) search terms about known United States persons used to retrieve unminimized contents or combined contents and noncontents from acquired electronic or wire communications, excluding terms used to prevent return of United States-person information, (C) queries about known United States persons of unminimized noncontents from such communications, excluding queries containing information used to prevent return of such information, and (D) instances when the FBI Criminal Investigative Division or successor opened an investigation of a United States person not considered a national-security threat based wholly or partly on such an acquisition; (3) total subchapter III orders, plus estimates of (A) targets, including (i) targets known not to be United States persons and (ii) targets known to be United States persons, and (B) unique identifiers used to communicate collected information; (4) criminal proceedings in which the United States, a State, or political subdivision gave notice under § 1806(c) or (d), including for § 1881a acquisitions, or § 1825(d) or (e), of an intent to introduce, use, or disclose information obtained or derived from electronic surveillance, a physical search, or an acquisition under this chapter; (5) total orders on § 1861(b)(2)(B) applications and estimates of (A) targets and (B) unique identifiers; (6) total orders on § 1861(b)(2)(C) applications and estimates of (A) targets, (B) unique identifiers, and (C) search terms containing United States-person information used to query call-detail-record databases obtained through those orders; and (7) total national security letters and information requests in them.

(c) Timing. The reports under (a) and (b) must be public during April each year and cover the previous calendar year.

(d) Exceptions. (1) If an estimate under subsection (b)(3)(B), (b)(5)(B), or (b)(6)(B) is fewer than 500, it must be stated as “fewer than 500,” not as an individual number. (2) Subsection (b)(3)(B) does not apply to orders producing FBI information without email addresses or telephone numbers. (3)(A) If the Director concludes that the estimate under subsection (b)(2)(C) cannot be accurately determined because only some relevant intelligence-community elements can provide it, the Director must (i) certify that in writing to the four listed committees; (ii) report the estimate for elements able to provide it; (iii) explain when a full and accurate estimate is reasonably expected; and (iv) publish the certification online. (B) The certification must be unclassified but may have a classified annex. (C) If the conclusion continues, the Director must certify every year.

(e) Mandatory reporting by FBI Director. Each year the FBI Director must report to the four listed committees on accountability actions during the preceding 12 months for noncompliant queries of § 1881a information and actions under § 1803(m), including ongoing personnel investigations, completed-investigation results, and related adverse personnel actions.

(f) Mandatory reporting on § 1881a by FBI Director. (1) Annual report. Each year the FBI Director must report (A) FBI queries of unminimized contents or noncontents under § 1881a(a) concerning United States persons; (B) approved queries using FBI batch-job technology or a successor; (C) such queries for which preapproval was not obtained because of an emergency; (D) such United States-person queries made solely to retrieve crime evidence; (E) a good-faith estimate of United States-person query terms used primarily to protect the query subject; and (F) a good-faith estimate of such terms used when the subject was an FBI investigation target or subject. (2) Public availability. After Attorney General and DNI declassification review, each annual report must be public during the first April after its covered calendar year. (3) Quarterly report. Beginning no later than one year after this paragraph’s effective date, the Director must report quarterly to the congressional intelligence committees and House and Senate Judiciary Committees the number of U.S.-person queries during that quarter.

(g) Definitions. (1) “Contents” has the meaning in 18 U.S.C. § 2510. (2) “Electronic communication” has that meaning in § 2510. (3) “National security letter” means a request for a report, records, or other information under 18 U.S.C. § 2709; 12 U.S.C. § 3414(a)(5)(A); 15 U.S.C. § 1681u(a) or (b); or 15 U.S.C. § 1681v(a). (4) “United States person” means a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, as defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a). (5) “Wire communication” has the meaning in 18 U.S.C. § 2510. This section does not define “good-faith estimate,” “unique identifier,” “query,” or “noncontents information.”