Sec. 101. Query procedure reform
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The Department of Justice shall conduct an audit that reviews each covered query, as defined in paragraph
(8)of section 702(f) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ( 50 U.S.C. 1881a(f) ), as redesignated and amended by subsection
(b)of this section, conducted during the 180-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, and during each 180-day period thereafter. Not later than 90 days after the end of each 180-day period described in paragraph (1), the Department of Justice shall complete the audit described in such paragraph with respect to such 180-day period. Not later than 30 days after completing each audit required under paragraph (1), the Department of Justice shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress the complete and unredacted results of the audit. If the Department of Justice fails to complete and send the results of an audit required under paragraph
(1)to the appropriate committees of Congress on or before the date that 120 days after the end of the 180-day period to which the audit relates, not later than 127 days after the end of such 180-day period, the Department of Justice shall conduct an in-person briefing with the appropriate committees of Congress. In this paragraph, the term appropriate committees of Congress means— the congressional intelligence committees (as defined in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 ( 50 U.S.C. 3003 )); the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate; and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives. Section 2(c) of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1881a note) is repealed. Section 702(f) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ( 50 U.S.C. 1881a(f) ) is amended— by redesignating paragraph
(5)as paragraph (8); by inserting before paragraph (8), as so redesignated, the following: For any procedures adopted under paragraph
(1)applicable to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall include the following requirements: A requirement that, prior to conducting any query, and on an annual basis thereafter as a prerequisite for continuing to conduct queries, personnel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation successfully complete training on the querying procedures. A requirement that, absent exigent circumstances, prior to conducting certain queries, personnel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation receive approval, at minimum, as follows: Approval from an attorney at the Federal Bureau of Investigation if the query uses a query term reasonably believed to identify a United States elected official, a governor of a State, an appointee of the President or the governor of a State, a United States political candidate, a United States political organization or a United States person prominent in such organization, a United States media organization or a United States person who is a member of such organization, a justice, judge, bankruptcy judge, or magistrate judge of the United States, or a judge or justice of the highest court of a State. Approval from an attorney of the Federal Bureau of Investigation if the query uses a query term reasonably believed to identify a United States religious organization or a United States person who is prominent in such organization. Approval from an attorney of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 2 or more queries conducted together, including through the use of batch job technology, any successor tool, or any other batch query method. A requirement that— prior to conducting a covered query, personnel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation generate a written statement of the specific factual basis to support the reasonable belief that such query meets the standards required by the procedures adopted under paragraph (1), which shall, for each covered query relating to the same United States person or persons, explain and support each individual query; and for each covered query, the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall keep a record of the query term or terms, the date of the query, the identifier of the personnel conducting the query, and the written statement of the specific factual basis required under clause (i). Any system of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that stores unminimized contents or noncontents obtained through acquisitions authorized under subsection
(a)together with contents or noncontents obtained through other lawful means shall be configured in a manner that requires personnel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who are in compliance with the training requirement under subparagraph
(A)to conduct such a query to affirmatively elect to include such unminimized contents or noncontents obtained through acquisitions authorized under subsection
(a)when running a query. ; and in paragraph (8), as so redesignated— by striking subparagraph
(B)and inserting the following: The term covered person means— a United States person; or a person reasonably believed to be located in the United States— at the time of the applicable query; or at the time of the communication or creation of the information subject to the applicable query. The term covered query means a query that— is conducted using 1 or more terms associated with 1 or more covered persons, including but not limited to personally identifiable information; is conducted in whole or in part for the purpose of detecting or retrieving information of or concerning 1 or more covered persons; or is conducted with specific reason to believe the query will detect or retrieve information of or concerning 1 or more covered persons. Whether a query is a covered query shall be determined without regard to whether the information subject to the query has already been detected or retrieved using a method other than a query described in clause (i). The term query — means the use of any technique, whether manual or automated, to detect or retrieve information obtained through acquisitions authorized under subsection
(a)from within a system, collection, or assortment of information, or a subset thereof; and does not include the manual observation of retrieved information. . Section 702(f) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ( 50 U.S.C. 1881a(f) ) is amended— in paragraph (1)(A) by inserting and the limitations and requirements in paragraph
(2)after Constitution of the United States ; by redesignating paragraph
(4)as paragraph (5); and by striking paragraphs
(2)and
(3)and inserting the following: Except as provided in subparagraph (B), no officer or employee of any agency that has access to unminimized communications or information obtained through an acquisition under this section may access communications content, or information the compelled disclosure of which would require a probable cause warrant if sought for law enforcement purposes inside the United States, acquired under subsection
(a)and returned in response to a covered query. Subparagraph
(A)shall not apply if— the person to whom the covered query relates is the subject of an order authorizing electronic surveillance, a physical search, or an acquisition under section 105, section 304, section 703, or section 704 of this Act or a warrant issued pursuant to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure by a court of competent jurisdiction; the person to whom the covered query relates is the subject of an emergency authorization authorizing electronic surveillance, a physical search, or an acquisition under section 105, section 304, section 703, or section 704 of this Act; not later than 7 days after the results of the covered query are accessed, a description of the circumstances justifying the accessing of the results of the covered query is provided to the congressional intelligence committees, the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate; the Attorney General makes or has made an application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in accordance with section 105(e)(1)(D), section 304(e)(1)(D), section 703(d)(1), or section 704(d)(1) of this Act; and in the event such application is denied, the requirements of section 105(e)(5), 304(e)(5), section 703(d)(4), or section 704(d)(4), as applicable, are followed; such person or, if such person is incapable of providing consent, a third party legally authorized to consent on behalf of such person, has provided consent for the access on a case-by-case basis; or the communications content or information is accessed and used for the sole purpose of identifying a potential victim or unwitting conduit of malicious cyber activity who is not a potential perpetrator of such activity; other than for the purposes described in item (aa), no communications content or other information described in subparagraph
(A)are accessed or reviewed; and the accessing of query results is reported to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. No communications content or information accessed under clause (i)(II) or information derived from such access may be used, received in evidence, or otherwise disseminated in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department, office, agency, regulatory body, legislative committee, or other authority of the United States, a State, or political subdivision thereof, except in a proceeding that arises from the circumstances to which the applicable emergency authorization relates. Not less frequently than annually, the Attorney General shall assess— compliance with the requirements under clause (i)(II)(cc); and compliance with the requirements under clause (ii). Except as provided in clause
(ii)of this subparagraph, no officer or employee of any agency that has access to unminimized communications or information obtained through an acquisition under this section may conduct a covered query of information acquired under subsection
(a)unless the query is reasonably likely to retrieve foreign intelligence information. An officer or employee of an agency that has access to unminimized communications or information obtained through an acquisition under this section may conduct a covered query of information acquired under this section if— the officer or employee conducting the query has a reasonable belief that— an emergency exists involving an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm; and the query could reasonably be expected to assist in mitigating or eliminating that threat to life or serious bodily harm; and not later than 7 days after the query is conducted, a description of the query is provided to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the congressional intelligence committees, the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate; or the query is necessary to identify information that must be produced or preserved in connection with a litigation matter or to fulfill discovery obligations in a criminal matter under the laws of the United States or any State thereof. In this subparagraph, the term appropriate congressional leadership means the following: The chairs and ranking minority members of the congressional intelligence committees. The chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the chair and ranking minority member of Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives. The Speaker and minority leader of the House of Representatives. The majority and minority leaders of the Senate. The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall promptly notify appropriate congressional leadership of any query conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation using a query term that is reasonably believed to be the name or other personally identifying information of a Member of Congress, and shall also notify the Member who is the subject of such query. In submitting a notification under subclause (I), the Director shall give due regard to the protection of classified information, sources and methods, and national security. The Director may waive a notification required under subclause
(I)if the Director determines such notification would impede an ongoing national security or law enforcement investigation. A waiver under item
(aa)shall terminate on the date the Director determines the relevant notification would not impede the relevant national security or law enforcement investigation or on the date that such investigation ends, whichever is earlier. The Federal Bureau of Investigation may not, for the purpose of supplementing the contents of a briefing on the defense against a counterintelligence threat to a Member of Congress, conduct a query using a query term that is the name or restricted personal information (as such term is defined in section 119 of title 18, United States Code) of that Member unless— the Member provides consent to the use of the query term; or the Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation determines that exigent circumstances exist sufficient to justify the conduct of such query. Not later than 3 business days after submitting a request for consent from a Member of Congress under subclause (I), the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall notify the appropriate congressional leadership, regardless of whether the Member provided such consent. Not later than 3 business days after the conduct of a query under subclause
(I)without consent on the basis of the existence of exigent circumstances determined under item
(bb)of such subclause, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall notify the appropriate congressional leadership. Nothing in this clause may be construed as— applying to matters outside of the scope of the briefing on the defense against a counterintelligence threat to be provided or supplemented under subclause (I); or limiting the lawful investigative activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation other than supplementing the contents of a briefing on the defense against a counterintelligence threat to a Member of Congress. No officer or employee of any agency that has access to unminimized communications or information obtained through an acquisition under this section may access communications content, or information the compelled disclosure of which would require a probable cause warrant if sought for law enforcement purposes inside the United States, returned in response to a covered query unless an electronic record is created that includes a statement of facts showing that the access is authorized pursuant to an exception specified in paragraph (2)(B). The head of each agency that has access to unminimized communications or information obtained through an acquisition under this section shall ensure that a system, mechanism, or business practice is in place to maintain the records described in paragraph (3). Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the SAFE Act , the head of each agency that has access to unminimized communications or information obtained through an acquisition under this section shall report to Congress on its compliance with this procedure. . Section 603(b)(2) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ( 50 U.S.C. 1873(b)(2) ) is amended, in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking , including pursuant to subsection (f)(2) of such section, . Section 706(a)(2)(A)(i) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ( 50 U.S.C. 1881e(a)(2)(A)(i) ) is amended by striking obtained an order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to access such information pursuant to section 702(f)(2) and inserting accessed such information in accordance with section 702(b)(2) .
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