Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Resource Library

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a critical tool for protecting our national security. It enables the U.S. Intelligence Community to collect, analyze, and share foreign intelligence information on individual terrorists, weapons proliferators, hackers, and other foreign intelligence targets. Take a deeper look at how we use FISA Section 702, how privacy and civil liberties safeguards are built into our work, and how our use of these tools is overseen by all three branches of government.

key concepts and topics

FISA Section 702

A One Page Overview

Categories of FISA

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

Understanding the Role of the FISC

Targeting Under FISA Section 702

Who Can (and Can’t) Be Targeted?

Minimizing United States Person Information

Under FISA Section 702

Finding the Foreign Intelligence Information

Queries of Section 702 Information

Overseeing Section 702

Multi-layered Oversight to Protect Privacy and Civil Liberties

Incidental Collection in a Targeted Intelligence Program

Understanding Section 702

When is it permissible to identify an American in an intelligence report?

Minimizing, Masking, and Unmasking Identities