Intel agencies doubled use of US person-tied search terms under disputed spying power last year

The U.S. intelligence community in 2024 saw a twofold increase in the number of search terms used to query contents of U.S. persons’ communications retrieved under a controversial spying program, driven in part by efforts to identify foreign cyber and terrorism threats, according to a transparency report released last week.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in the report that 7,845 search terms were used in 2024 to query raw communications collected under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that were linked to known or presumed U.S. persons, up from 3,755 terms in the prior year.

Section 702 lets the FBI and NSA collect emails, texts and other communications of foreign targets overseas without a warrant by requiring tech and telecom companies to hand over data linked to specific users.

Read more at NextGov/FCW