Joint Statement from the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the Declassification of Renewal of Collection Under Section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

The Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the following joint statement today:

On Dec. 8, 2014, the Director of National Intelligence declassified and disclosed publicly that the U.S. government had filed an application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court seeking renewal of the authority to collect telephony metadata in bulk, and that the FISC renewed that authority.

The FISC’s Dec. 4, 2014, primary order renewing the collection expires on Feb. 27, 2015.  The DNI also announced that the administration was undertaking a declassification of the Dec. 4, 2014, primary order.  Following this declassification review by the executive branch, the DNI has declassified and released in redacted form the Dec. 4, 2014, Primary Order signed by Judge Michael W. Mosman.

This order is now publicly available at the ODNI website, dni.gov, and the ODNI’s public website dedicated to fostering greater public visibility into the intelligence activities of the government, icontherecord.tumblr.com.