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8/13/2019 Nsa Intel Foreigner Surveillance http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nsa-intel-foreigner-surveillance 1/6 TOP SECRET//COMINT//NOFO II N N TION L SECURITY GENCY CENTR L SECURITY SERVICE FORT GEORGE G. MEADE MARYLAND 2073S APR 1 2 9 MEMORANDUM FOR MAJORITY STAFF DIRECTOR, SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE SUBJECT: (U) Congressional Notification - INFORMATION MEMORANDUM (TS//SI//NF) I am pleased to report to the Committee the significant progress made to date to resolve the Business Records (BR) matter, to provide additional information to the Committee on other matters that have been addressed previously to the Committee and to notify the Committee of one additional matter which was only recently identified. NSA is committed to work each matter to a resolution that is consistent with Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) orders and our obligation to conduct our operations with due regard to United States Persons' privacy. It is also NSA's commitment to make our  efforts transparent to the Committee by providing updates of significant developments. I.  (TS//SI//NF) Compliance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court s Business Records and Pen Register/Trap and Trace Orders: (TS//S1//NF)  NSA notified the Committee on February 25, 2009 of a compliance issue with the implementation of the FISC authorized Business Records (BR) Order. The issue of non-compliance was originally identified by DoJ in mid-January and reported to the FISC. In his February 13 declaration to the Court, the Director of NSA committed to conducting end-to- end reviews of NSA's implementation of both the BR and Pen Register/Trap and Trace (PR/TT) Court Orders. (TS//SI//NF)  NSA has aggressively taken actions to correct the problems noted with BR FISA order compliance, avoid a reoccurrence, and ensure future compliance. A 60-day end-to-end system engineering and process review, a review of oversight and compliance training for all personnel who access both BR and PR/TT FISA metadata, and a redesign of the automated alert process for follow-on systems are being worked simultaneously. The end-to-end reviews involve a complex investigation of at least eight major system components and over 240 subcomponents, serving multiple functions and users. Our review of these systems and components has, to date, surfaced only the following issues noted in this update. U) Current operating capability/functionality amsumm  On February 20 NSA implemented a change in software that shut off all automated accessing of metadata acquired pursuant to both TOP SECRET//COM1NT//NOFORN

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TOP SECRET/ /COMINT/ /NOFO IINN T I O N L S E C U R I T Y G E N C Y

C E N T R L S E C U R I T Y S E R V I C E

F O R T G E O R G E G . M E A D E M A R Y L A N D 2 0 7 3 S

A P R 1 2 9

MEMOR ANDUM F OR MAJ OR ITY S TAF F DIR EC TOR , S ENATES E L E C T C O M M I T T E E O N I N T E L L I G E N C E

SU BJE CT : (U) Congress iona l No t if i ca tion - INFORM ATIONM E M O R A N D U M

(TS//SI/ /NF)  I am pleased to report to the Commit tee the s ignif icantprogress made to date to resolve the Business Records (BR) mat ter , top rov ide add i t iona l in fo rmat ion to the Com mit tee on o ther m at te rs tha t havebeen addressed previously to the Commit tee and to not i fy the Commit tee ofone addi t ional mat ter which was only recent ly ident i f ied . NSA is commit tedto work each mat ter to a resolu t ion that is consis tent wi th ForeignIntel l igence Survei l lance Court (FISC) orders and our obl igat ion to conductour opera t ions with due regard to Un i ted Sta tes Pers ons ' pr ivacy. I t i s a lsoNSA's commitmen t to make our  efforts  t ransparen t to the Commit tee byproviding updates of s ignif icant developments .

I.  (TS/ /SI / /NF)  C o m p l i a n c e w i t h t h e F o r e i g n I n t e l l i g e n c e S u r v e i l l a n c eC o u r t s B u s i n e s s R e c o r d s a n d P e n R e g i s t e r / T r a p a n d T r a c e O r d e r s :

(TS//S1//NF)  NSA not i f ied the Com mit tee on Febr ua ry 25 , 2009 of acomp liance issue with the imp lem enta t ion of the FISC authorize d Bu sine ssRecords (BR) Or der . The issue of non-compliance wa s orig inal ly ident i f ied byDo J in m id- Ja nu ar y and reporte d to the FISC. In h is Fe bru ary 13declarat ion to the Court , the Director of NSA commit ted to conduct ing end-to-end review s of NSA 's imp lem entat io n of both the BR and Pe n Re gis ter /T rapand Trace (PR/TT) Court Orders .

(TS/ /SI/ /NF)  NSA has aggress ively taken a ct ions to correct theproblems noted with BR FISA order compliance, avoid a reoccurrence, andens ure fu t ur e compliance. A 60-day end-to-end sys tem engin eerin g andprocess review, a review of oversight and compliance training for allpersonnel who access both BR and PR/TT FISA metadata , and a redesign ofth e au tom ate d a ler t process for fo llow-on sys tem s are being workedsimultaneously . The end-to-end reviews involve a complex invest igat ion of a tleas t e ight major sys tem components and over 240 subcomponents , serv ingmu lt ip le funct io ns and users . Ou r review of the se sys tems and c om pone ntshas , to date , surfa ced only the fo llowing issues noted in th is upd ate .

U) Current operating capability/functionalitya m s u m m  On Febru ary 20 NSA implemen ted a change in so f tware

th a t shu t o ff a l l au to ma ted access ing of m eta da ta acqu i red pu rsu an t to bo thTOP SECRET/ /COM1NT/ /NOFORN

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BR and PR/TT FISC orders . NSA accepted that th is would d isrupt processesthat had no ident i f ied compliance concerns , to include those support ingmateria l acquired under the PR/TT FISA Court Order; however, NSA decidedth a t h a l t in g au tom ated access to the BR and PR/TT me tad a ta to be the mos tprudent course of act ion .

1.  U//FOUO)  BR Operations/Mitigation(TS//SI//NF)  Since the March 5 , 2009 FISA Court order , the Court ' s

approval has been required for each selector before i t is tasked for BR FISAm e t ad a t a an a l y s is . On  M a r c l ^ ^ ^ ^ S ^ j e s ^ i e i ^ i i a n u a l  access to BR FISAmetada ta , a l lowing  c h a i n i n g ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ J o f  FISA Cour t -approved

selectors associated withI fo llowing mu lt ip le operat ional an d technica l review st c ^ n s u r ^ o m p h a n c e ^ W h i l e   no deficiencies in analys t t ra in ing had beennoted , NSA ha s tak en th e extr a precaut ion of providing a ddi t iona lcompliance t ra in ing and tes t ing to a l l analys ts access ing the BR FISAmetadata prior to being approved for access .

(TS/ /SI/ /NF)  NSA has taken s teps to minimize the impact ofsusp end ing the BR autom ated t ipp ing (or a ler t ) processes . A l imited nu m be rof NSA ana ly s t s a re now per fo rming manua l quer ies aga ins t 209 FISA Cour t -approve

2. U//FOUO) BR end-to-end review(TS//S1  IMF NSA sys tems eng ineers have made sub s tan t ia l p rogress

on the end-to-end review of the s ys tem s and an aly t ic tools associated w ith BRFISA m eta da t a . NSA eng ineers have rev iewed more tha n 100 requ i r em en tsdocumen ts , da ta f low d iag rams and sys tem documen ta t ion reco rds and a rees ta bl ish ing a comp rehensive p lan to res tore capabi l i t ies . In concert w i th theengineering review, NSA's Office  of Overs ight and Compliance has completedapp roxim ately h alf of the 15 neces sary aud i ts of the BR FISA m et ad at a

queries . So far these audi ts have revealed inappropriate queries by twoan aly s ts of foreign te lephone selectors . These v io lations were repor ted to t heFISC in the Director 's 25 February 2009 Supplemental Declarat ion , whichthe Com mi t tee previously received. In addi t ion , several of the audi ts hav eident i f ied poss ib le compliance issues that require further invest igat ion .

3.review

U//FQUO) Additional BR matters identified or undergoing

(TS//ST//NF)  As a resu l t of authoriz ed an alys is , and a s previouslyreported to the Court , 275 reports contain ing 2 ,476 te lephonenumbers were d isseminated to the FBI and CIA. While th is

d i s semina t ion was au thor ized , and the numbers were l eg i t imate lyde te rm ined to be assoc ia ted wi th in te rna t ion a l t e r ro r i sm , they w erealso added prematurely to a l is t cal led the  tation Table, a list

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designed to s tore numbers determined by NSA to meet the

rea sona ble ar t iculab le suspicion s ta nd ard RAS-approved . Theproblem ident i f ied is that these numbers d id not undergo theformal NSA  Office  of Gen eral C ounsel RAS -designat ion review asreq uire d by the Court pr ior to being added to the Stat ion Table .

*  (TS//SI/ /NF)  NSA cont inues to review whether addi t ionalau tom ated too l s may have quer ied the bus iness reco rds m eta da t a .

•  (TS//SI/ /NF)  NSA is reviewing i ts appl icat ion of the 5- year da tareten t ion l im itat ion provis ion of the FIS C order .

4. UUEOUOX Status of BR training

(T3//S1//NF)  NSA formed a team in early February to address both theimm edia te and long- term t ra in in g requ i red fo r ana ly s t s access ing m eta da taacquired through BR FISA and PR/TT FISA. The team in i t ia ted a redesignof the Agency 's BR FISA train ing and has adminis tered BR FISA oralcompetency tes ts . Tr ain in g for PR/TT FISA wil l involve a new curr ic ulumand c om peten cy exam and is projected to be available by J u n e 1, 2009.

(T0/ /0I/ /NF)  NSA is a l so upda t ing i ts BR FISA Standa rd Op era t ingPro cedu res (SOP) docum ent . An in ter im vers ion of the new SOP deta i ls theprocesses and proc edure s governing access to BR FISA m eta da ta . Thein ter im SOP also describes the overal l process to ensure consis tency with the

FIS C orde r . The SO P will be revised as necessary a s addi t ional analy t ic toolsa re re ins ta ted and au tomated p rocesses a re resumed fo l lowing FISCapproval .

5. U//EQUQ)  Status ofPR/TT Operations and Review(TS//ST//NF)  NSA is a lso seeking DoJ approval to react ivate automated

que ryin g of th e PR/TT m eta da ta af te r conduct ing a sys tem level review of thePR/TT al er t in g sys tem to ensu re compliance. Of note , no compliance issu eswe re found in NSA 's use of PR/TT m eta da ta . NSA uses PR/TT me ta da ta tochain acro ss d ig i ta l netw ork selectors . How ever, as a res ul t of the Co urt ' sorder , DoJ approval is required to react ivate any of the automated PR/TT

processes tha t NSA volun tari ly shut down. N SA ant ic ipate s receiv ingapproval to resume the automated PR/TT aler t ing process soon. In thein ter im, as with BR FISA, NSA has taken s teps to minimize the impact ofsuspending the PR/TT automated t ipping process by ensuring the h ighestpriori ty selectors undergo manual chain ing.

(TS//3I/ /NF)  On March 31, 2009 DoJ lawyers v is i ted NSA inpre pa rat ion for DoJ 's f i rs t spot check of the PR/TT FISA process incompliance with the FISA Cou rt 's M arch 5, 2009 Ord er . NSA de m ons trat edthe analy t ic tools used by analys ts and provided a brief ing on NSA's progressin condu ct ing the end-to-end sys tem engineering and process reviews. NSA

also described how i t adminis ters overs ight and compliance of the PR/TTm et ad at a f lows. DoJ ident i f ied no new issues dur ing gene ral d iscuss ion . Do J

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is sch edu led to visit in late April for the ir first form al spot check on PR/TT

FISA as well as a routine review of BR FISA.

(TS//SI/ /NF)  The end-to-end review of the PR/TT systems andprocesses is underway and will be concluded upon completion of the BR FISAreview.

v e r c o l l e c t i o nI .  (U / / F OUO)(S//SI//NF)  This is to update the Commit tee on the mat ter of NSA's

inciden tal acq uis i t ion of da ta du ring the course of FISA Am en dm en ts Act

These incidents are described as ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ O v e r c o l l e c t i o n  ).Th e Co mm it tee previously received inform at ion on th is m at te r on M arch 5 ,2009, in the Se m ian nu al Report of the De pa rtm en t of Jus t ice Con cerningAcquis i t ions Under Sect ion 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008,pre par ed by the Dep ar tm en t of Jus t ice , and covering the period fromSeptember 4 , 2008 through November 30 , 2008 and on March 17, 2009, in theSe mi ann ua l A ssessmen t of Compl iance Wi th FISA Am endm ents ActProcedures and Guidel ines , prepared by the Attorney General and theDirector of Nat ional In tel l igence, covering the same t ime   frame The repor t sa l so s ta ted  t h a t ^ J )  had been reported to the Foreign In tel l igenceSurvei l lance Court (FISC).

(S//SI//NF)  NSA supp lem en ts those repor t s by add ing tha t  | o  wa s anissue considered by the Cou r t during i ts review of the t h i rd FAA C ert i f icat ionth a t the Attorney Ge neral an d the Director of Na t ional In tel l igence h aveau thor ize d , Cer t i f i ca tion

I which wa s f iled with th e Court on Jan ua ry 12, 2009.D urin g the Co urt ' s considerat ion of th at cert i f icat ion , the FISC asked for andreceived sup ple me ntal f i l ings wh erein NSA described the causes for and th eef fo r t s to mi t iga te aga in s t

(U/ /FQUQ) These mi t iga t ion  efforts  involve cont inuo us processimprovements to prevent and/or detect overcol lect ion at the earl ies t poss ib lepoint and th e appl icat ion of our target i ng and min imiza t ion proced uresregarding ins tances of overcol lect ion , which include appris ing ODNI andDOJ in a t imely fashion whenever such incidents may occur in the fu ture .N SA  ad d re s s ed  the concerns expressed and the quest ions raised by the FISCc o n c e r n i n g ^ ^ ) .

(S//ST/ANF)  On April 7, 2009, the FISC approved Certification

In accordance wi th the repor t ing requ i r em en ts o f the FISA Am end me nts Act ,th e gov ernm ent wil l provide the Com mit tee copies of the C ourt ' s Opinion and

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Order, as wel l as of the government 's appl icat ion and p leadings in them at te r , to include the supplem enta l f i l ings referen ced above.

III.  ( U / / F Ö W )  D I A J o i n t I n t e l l i g e n c e T a s k F o r c e - C o m b a t i n gT e r r o r i s m ( J I T F - C T ) A c c e s s t o C o u n t e r t e r r o r i s m - r e l a t e d S I G I N TI n f o r m a t i o n

(U) This mat ter was f i rs t brought to the Commit tee 's a t tent ion by wayof oral notification on March 31, 2009 to Committee staff directors with anunders tanding that th is wri t ten not i f icat ion would fo l low.

program which al lowed the DIA's Jo in t In tel l igence Task Force - Combat ingTerro r i sm (J ITF-CT) access to coun te r te r ro r i sm-re la ted SIGINT in fo rmat ion ,inc lud ing  S I G I N T ^ o l l e c t e ^ u r s u a n t  to the Foreign In tel l igence Surv ei l lanceCour t ' s  ( F I S C ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ H .  Access to th is FISA da ta w as t ight lycon t ro l led and was l imi ted to J ITF-C T an a lys t s who had undergone t ra in ingon the appl icat ion of NSA minim izat ion procedu res to the FISA d at a an d w howe re subject to NSA overs ight of the ir act iv i t ies . Moreover, the se p ersonn elwere required to coordinate with NSA regarding d isseminat ion ofthe informat ion outs ide of J ITF-CT.

(U/ /FQUQ)  At the t ime the p i lo t program was created , NSAdetermined that , once JITF-CT analys ts were detai led to NSA they could beconsidered NSA employees pu rsu an t to the FISC order for the purpo ses ofthe ir access to the FISA da ta . U nde r NSA's analys is , a l though not r epo rt ingto an NSA management chain , once detai led to NSA, they were neverthelessoperat ing under NSA contro l ( t ra in ing , overs ight , accountabi l i ty) whenaccess ing the FISA data .

(TS/ /SI/ /NF)  In 2008, NSA's Overs ight and Compliance  office wascondu ct ing a review of dat ab ase access to unm inim ized SIG INT . As a res ul t ,

a da ta ba se know n as found to lack suff ic ient contro ls overan aly s t access to da ta . As a correct ive me asur e, the dat aba se w asreco nfigur ed , shu t t ing it down and bringing i t back up undercomprehens ive con t ro l s . Th is was the da tabase tha t J ITF-CT ana lys t s u sedto access the FISA data

and t he se action s led to th e loss of the ir access. Th e NSA  Office

of General Counsel then reconsidered the bas is for i ts or ig inal concurrence onal lowing JITF-CT analys ts access to the FISA data .

(C//SI//NF)  The NSA Office  of Ge neral Co unsel had que st ionsconcern ing wh ethe r the c i rcumstances o f J ITF-CT ana lys t s de ta i l

sup port ed the conclus ion th at they were NSA employees as orig inal lydeterm ined. The facts and ci rcumstances were reported to DoJ. Uponreviewing these facts , DoJ reported the mat ter to the FISC as a poss ib le

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com pliance incident . NSA and DoJ cont inue to work to brin g the m at te r to

conclus ion with the FISC . Un t i l th is ma t te r is resolved, NSA wil l notre in s ta te J IT F-C T access to th i s FISA da ta .

(C//SI//NF)   <

¡ there  i s no way to de te rmine wh ethe r ,in fact , J IT F-C T ana lys t s accessed i t wi th out authoriz at ion . How ever, even ifsuch access occurred , the analys ts were t ra ined in rout ine minimizat ionprocedures and were required to coordinate with NSAreg ard ing d is sem inat ion of inform at ion outs ide of J ITF -CT ; th us i t i s unl ikelytha t Un i ted S ta tes Persons ' iden t i t i es were d i s semina ted improper ly .

IV .  (S//ST//NF)  S u s p e n s i o n o f MU n m i n i m i z e d S I G I N T C o l l e c t i o n

(3 / /SI/ /NF)  This is the f i rs t repwhich concerns a decis ion to suspendcalled X-KEYSCORE (XKS).

| t o

i t tee on th is mat ter ,ccess to an NSA system

¡wedacce ss to a p ar t o . 's collection architecture

relat ing to SIGINT col lected under the authori ty  o y j ^ g n y r i w ^ H p ^ y s s a

:-KEY S CO RE (XKS).

, th is access is predicate d on the princip le th atcol laborat ion agains t counter- terrorism is essent ia l to d iscover and pre-emptte r ro r i s t ac t s

Jn review ol this access Nfc>A  is considering whether a l lowing th is| access to unm inimiz ed SIG INT collect ion fu l ly complies w ith

NSA procedures . The review is considering whether addi t ional automatedand/or m an ua l proced ures should be in p lace with prior tores toring their access to th is s t ream of SIGINT.

(U) NSA is cont inuing to review the facts and ci rcumstancesc o n c e r n m ^ i i s  mat ter . Should you have any quest ions , p lease contact me at

La Forres t Wil l iamsDepu ty Associate Director of Legis lat ive Aff airs

Copy Furn i shed :Minority Staff Director, Senate

Select Commit tee on In tel l igence

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