U.S. Intelligence Community Sees 94% Drop in Warrantless Surveillance Searches of Americans

The U.S. intelligence community has seen a significant drop in the number of searches for Americans’ information collected under a warrantless surveillance program, according to a government report released Friday.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released its Annual Statistical Transparency Report, which outlines the intelligence community’s use of national security surveillance authorities. The report found that the number of searches dropped from more than 3.4 million in 2021, to just over 204,000 in 2022, a decline of nearly 94%.

The decline followed changes adopted by the FBI in the summer of 2021 designed to place more restrictions on the use of warrantless surveillance authorities. The changes included updates to FBI “systems, processes, and training relating to U.S. person queries,” the report said.

Other U.S. agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA), also acknowledged making changes to the way their U.S. person queries were conducted or counted.

The ODNI report is the latest in a series of steps taken by the U.S. intelligence community to increase transparency and oversight of its surveillance activities. The report also provides a detailed look at the intelligence community’s use of surveillance authorities, including the number of searches conducted and the types of information collected.