UNCLASSIFIED SEP 0 7 2017 The Honorable Paul Ryan Speaker US House of Representatives Washington DC 20515 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader United States Senate Washington DC 20510 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Minority Leader US House of Representatives Washington DC 20515 The Honorable Charles E Schumer Minority Leader United States Senate Washington DC 20510 Dear Speaker Ryan and Leaders McConnell Pelosi and Schumer We are writing to urge that the Congress reauthorize in clean and permanent form Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act F ISA enacted by the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 FAA which is set to sunset at the end of this year Title VII of FISA allows the Intelligence Community under a robust regime of oversight by all three branches of Government to collect vital information about international terrorists cyber actors individuals and entities engaged in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other important foreign intelligence targets located outside the United States Reauthorizing this critical authority is the top legislative priority of the Department of Justice and the Intelligence Community As publicly reported by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board information collected under one particular section of FAA Section 702 produces significant foreign intelligence that is vital to protect the nation against international terrorism and other threats UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The Honorable Paul Ryan The Honorable Mitch McConnell The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Charles E Schumer Section 702 permits the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence under procedures approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to authorize the acquisition of foreign intelligence information by targeting non-US persons located outside the United States when such persons possess or are likely to communicate foreign intelligence information At the same time Section 702 provides a comprehensive regime of oversight by all three branches of Government to protect the privacy and civil liberties of US persons Section 702 may not be used to intentionally target a US person located anywhere in the world nor may the law be used to intentionally target any person regardless of nationality who is known to be located in the United States The law requires the Intelligence Community to follow court- approved targeting and minimization procedures designed to ensure compliance with the law s targeting restrictions and the requirements of the Fourth Amendment The procedures are designed to protect the privacy of US persons whose nonpublic information may be incidentally acquired The Department of Justice and the Of ce of the Director of National Intelligence conduct extensive oversight reviews of Section 702 activities and Title VII requires us to report to Congress on implementation and compliance twice a year In addition as demonstrated in numerous declassi ed court opinions and other materials the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court exercises rigorous independent oversight of activities conducted pursuant to Section 702 to ensure that incidents of non-compliance are addressed through appropriate remedial action As you are aware we have conducted brie ngs outlining the utility and implementation of Section 702 for both Members and staff this year and will continue to do so over the course of the next few months We look forward to working with you to ensure the speedy enactment of legislation reauthorizing Title VII without amendment beyond removing the sunset provision to avoid any interruption in our use of these authorities to protect the American people Sincerely I Jefferson B Sessions Daniel R Coats Attorney General Director of National Intelligence 2 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The Honorable Paul Ryan The Honorable Mitch McConnell The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Charles E Schumer g The Honorable Devin Nunes Chairman Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence The Honorable Adam B Schiff Ranking Member Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence The Honorable Richard Burr Chairman Select Committee on Intelligence The Honorable Mark Warner Vice Chairman Select Committee on Intelligence The Honorable Bob Goodlatte Chairman Judiciary Committee The Honorable John Conyers Jr Ranking Member Judiciary Committee The Honorable Chuck Grassley Chairman Committee on the Judiciary The Honorable Dianne Feinstein Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary 3 UNCLASSIFIED                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu