NSA headquarters in Ft. Meade, Md. (Image: file photo)
New figures reveal a sharp increase in the number of searches of Americans' calls and messages by the intelligence community during the Trump administration's first year in office.
The figures, published Friday[1] by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), show a rise in targeted surveillance and searches of people's data. It's the latest annual report from the government's chief spy, which has faced calls to be more transparent in the wake of the Edward Snowden disclosures into its surveillance programs.
According to the figures, 7,512 Americans had their calls and messages searched without a warrant, up by 42 percent on the year prior.
The government gets these search powers under the controversial section 702 authority, which allows the National Security Agency (NSA) to gather intelligence on foreigners overseas by collecting data from choke points where fiber optic cables owned by telecom giants enter the US. The powers also authorize the collection of data from internet giants and tech companies.
But data collected under section 702 is near indiscriminate, and it also sweeps up large amounts of data on Americans, who are constitutionally protected from warrantless surveillance.
The actual number of searches on Americans is likely significantly higher, because the reported figures don't account for searches by other civilian agencies, like the FBI or the Drug Enforcement Administration -- which also don't require a warrant to search the database.
"We're almost certainly talking about tens of thousands of Americans being queried by FBI but have no clear info on that or the number of Americans whose data is collected," said Jake Laperruque, senior counsel at the Project On Government Oversight.
Congress has long asked