Press Releases 2013

Press Releases 2013

Consistent with 50 U.S.C. 3306(b), the Director of National Intelligence is disclosing to the public the aggregate amount of funds appropriated by Congress to the National Intelligence Program (NIP) for Fiscal Year 2013 not later than 30 days after the end of the fiscal year.

In June of this year, President Obama directed me to declassify and make public as much information as possible about certain sensitive intelligence collection programs undertaken under the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) while being mindful of the need to protect national security.  Consistent with this directive, in September 2013, I authorized the declassification and public release of a number of documents pertaining to the Government’s collection of bulk telephony metadata under Section 501 of the FISA, as amended by Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Section 215).  Today I am authorizing the declassification and public release of a number of additional documents relating to collection under Section 215.  These documents were properly classified, and their declassification is not done lightly.  I have determined, however, that the harm to national security from the release of these documents is outweighed by the public interest.

Today President Obama nominated Jeh Johnson to be the next U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. Jeh served as General Counsel of the Department of Defense from 2009 to 2012 and has been instrumental to reforming and shaping key U.S. military and counterterrorism policies.

Recent articles published in the French newspaper Le Monde contain inaccurate and misleading information regarding U.S. foreign intelligence activities.

As indicated by a declassified court order and amended memorandum opinion published by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Sept. 17, 2013, the court authorization requiring the production of certain telephony metadata under the “business records” provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 50 U.S.C. Section 1861, expires Oct. 11, 2013.