Stephanie O’Sullivan says IC supports more transparency under FISA

In testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 5, in support of the USA Freedom Act, Stephanie O’Sullivan, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, told the assembled senators that the Intelligence Community is eager to allow members of the public to understand how intelligence analysts use authorities available to them under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. 

“For example, we are currently working to finalize a transparency report that will outline on an annual basis the total number of orders issued under various FISA authorities and an estimate of the total number of targets affected by those orders,” O’Sullivan said in her prepared testimony.

In addition, she noted that the Intelligence Community recognizes that it is important for communications companies to be able to reassure the public that the number of instances in which they are asked for information about individuals is actually quite limited.

“So we support the provisions of the House bill that allow the companies to report information about the national security legal demands and law enforcement legal demands that they receive each year,” she added.

The USA Freedom Act was passed in the House on May 22 by a vote of 303 to 121.