Press Releases 2013

Press Releases 2013

At the direction of the President, I am establishing the Director of National Intelligence Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies to examine our global signals-intelligence collection and surveillance capability.

In the interest of increased transparency, the Director of National Intelligence has authorized the declassification and public release of the attached documents pertaining to the collection of telephone metadata pursuant to Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act.

As indicated by a previously classified court order disclosed by the media on June 5, 2013, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorization requiring the production of certain telephony metadata under the “business records” provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), 50 U.S.C. Section 1861, expires on July 19, 2013.

As the House of Representatives prepares to vote today on legislation to limit the authority exercised by the National Security Agency pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and court order, I join others who caution that acting in haste to defund the FISA Business Records program risks dismantling an important intelligence tool.

On behalf of the Intelligence Community, I thank Janet for her commitment and invaluable contributions to the community and our nation.