§1874 — Title 50 War and National Defense | U.S. Code

Summary

Allows people who must keep an order or a national security letter secret to publish simple, grouped counts about those orders. They can pick one of four report styles: a semiannual report with counts shown in bands of 1,000; a semiannual report with bands of 500; a semiannual combined report with bands of 250; or an annual combined report with bands of 100. Each report gives totals in a few categories, such as number of national security letters, number of customer selectors targeted, number of content orders and their targets, and number of non‑content orders and their targets. The first 1,000‑band option also breaks out certain orders by the specific parts of the law listed in the statute. The timing rules differ by option. For the two semiannual styles in the first two options, counts of national security letters cover the previous 180 days, while counts of orders under the chapter cover a 180‑day period that ends at least 180 days before the report is published; a new product or platform that got its first order must wait 540 days before it is included. The 250‑band semiannual report covers the previous 180 days. The annual 100‑band report covers a 1‑year period that ends at least 1 year before publication. The government and the person can agree to publish the same information at different times or in a different form. Definitions: "contents" = the substance of a communication; "national security letter" = the type of demand defined elsewhere in the law.

Title 50, §1874

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)A person subject to a nondisclosure requirement accompanying an order or directive under this chapter or a national security letter may, with respect to such order, directive, or national security letter, publicly report the following information using one of the following structures:

(1)A semiannual report that aggregates the number of orders, directives, or national security letters with which the person was required to comply into separate categories of—

(A)the number of national security letters received, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999;

(B)the number of customer selectors targeted by national security letters, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999;

(C)the number of orders or directives received, combined, under this chapter for contents, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999;

(D)the number of customer selectors targeted under orders or directives received, combined, under this chapter for contents, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999;

(E)the number of orders received under this chapter for noncontents, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999; and

(F)the number of customer selectors targeted under orders under this chapter for noncontents, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999, pursuant to—

(i)subchapter III;

(ii)subchapter IV with respect to applications described in section 1861(b)(2)(B) 11 See References in Text note below. of this title; and

(iii)subchapter IV with respect to applications described in section 1861(b)(2)(C) 1 of this title.

(2)A semiannual report that aggregates the number of orders, directives, or national security letters with which the person was required to comply into separate categories of—

(A)the number of national security letters received, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499;

(B)the number of customer selectors targeted by national security letters, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499;

(C)the number of orders or directives received, combined, under this chapter for contents, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499;

(D)the number of customer selectors targeted under orders or directives received, combined, under this chapter for contents, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499;

(E)the number of orders received under this chapter for noncontents, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499; and

(F)the number of customer selectors targeted under orders received under this chapter for noncontents, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499.

(3)A semiannual report that aggregates the number of orders, directives, or national security letters with which the person was required to comply into separate categories of—

(A)the total number of all national security process received, including all national security letters, and orders or directives under this chapter, combined, reported in bands of 250 starting with 0–249; and

(B)the total number of customer selectors targeted under all national security process received, including all national security letters, and orders or directives under this chapter, combined, reported in bands of 250 starting with 0–249.

(4)An annual report that aggregates the number of orders, directives, and national security letters the person was required to comply with into separate categories of—

(b)(1)A report described in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (a) shall include only information—

(A)relating to national security letters for the previous 180 days; and

(B)relating to authorities under this chapter for the 180-day period of time ending on the date that is not less than 180 days prior to the date of the publication of such report, except that with respect to a platform, product, or service for which a person did not previously receive an order or directive (not including an enhancement to or iteration of an existing publicly available platform, product, or service) such report shall not include any information relating to such new order or directive until 540 days after the date on which such new order or directive is received.

(2)A report described in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) shall include only information relating to the previous 180 days.

(3)A report described in paragraph (4) of subsection (a) shall include only information for the 1-year period of time ending on the date that is not less than 1 year prior to the date of the publication of such report.

(c)Nothing in this section prohibits the Government and any person from jointly agreeing to the publication of information referred to in this subsection in a time, form, or manner other than as described in this section.

(d)In this section:

(1)The term “contents” has the meaning given that term under section 2510 of title 18.

(2)The term “national security letter” has the meaning given that term under section 1873 of this title.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsecs. (a) and (b)(1)(B), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 95–511, Oct. 25, 1978, 92 Stat. 1783, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1801 of this title and Tables. section 1861(b)(2)(B), (C) of this title, referred to in subsec. (a)(1)(F)(ii), (iii), means section 1861(b)(2)(B), (C) of this title prior to the amendment of section 1861 by Pub. L. 109–177, title I, § 102(b), Mar. 9, 2006, 120 Stat. 195, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2006 Amendment note under section 1805 of this title, which amended section 1861 of this title, effective Mar. 15, 2020, so that such section read as it read on Oct. 25, 2001, with certain exceptions.

Amendments

2018—Subsec. (a)(1)(D). Pub. L. 115–118, § 205(a)(4)(A), substituted “contents,” for “contents”. Subsec. (a)(3). Pub. L. 115–118, § 205(a)(4)(B), substituted “comply into” for “comply in the into” in introductory provisions.

§1874 Public reporting by persons subject to orders