§1846 — Title 50 War and National Defense | U.S. Code

Summary

The Attorney General must tell four Congressional committees every six months about all uses of pen registers and trap-and-trace devices under this law: the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Judiciary Committee, and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Every six months the Attorney General must also send a report about the past 6-month period that gives totals for: applications for orders; orders granted, changed, or denied; emergency authorizations and any later orders; which departments or agencies applied and their separate totals; and a good-faith estimate of how many people were targeted, rounded to the nearest 500. That estimate must show how many were U.S. persons in bands of 0–499 and, of those, how many had their information viewed by a federal official, also in bands of 0–499. Reports must be unclassified whenever possible. Within 7 days after sending the report to the committees, the Attorney General must make it public. If full public release would hurt national security, the Attorney General must instead publish an unclassified summary or a redacted version.

Title 50, §1846

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)On a semiannual basis, the Attorney General shall fully inform the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, concerning all uses of pen registers and trap and trace devices pursuant to this subchapter.

(b)On a semiannual basis, the Attorney General shall also provide to the committees referred to in subsection (a) a report setting forth with respect to the preceding 6-month period—

(1)the total number of applications made for orders approving the use of pen registers or trap and trace devices under this subchapter;

(2)the total number of such orders either granted, modified, or denied;

(3)the total number of pen registers and trap and trace devices whose installation and use was authorized by the Attorney General on an emergency basis under section 1843 of this title, and the total number of subsequent orders approving or denying the installation and use of such pen registers and trap and trace devices;

(4)each department or agency on behalf of which the Attorney General or a designated attorney for the Government has made an application for an order authorizing or approving the installation and use of a pen register or trap and trace device under this subchapter;

(5)for each department or agency described in paragraph (4), each number described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3); and

(6)a good faith estimate of the total number of subjects who were targeted by the installation and use of a pen register or trap and trace device under an order or emergency authorization issued under this subchapter, rounded to the nearest 500, including—

(A)the number of such subjects who are United States persons, reported to the nearest band of 500, starting with 0–499; and

(B)of the number of United States persons described in subparagraph (A), the number of persons whose information acquired pursuant to such order was reviewed or accessed by a Federal officer, employee, or agent, reported to the nearest band of 500, starting with 0–499.

(c)Each report under subsection (b) shall be submitted in unclassified form, to the extent consistent with national security. Not later than 7 days after the date on which the Attorney General submits such a report, the Attorney General shall make the report publicly available, or, if the Attorney General determines that the report cannot be made publicly available consistent with national security, the Attorney General may make publicly available an unclassified summary of the report or a redacted version of the report.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 115–118, § 205(a)(3), struck out “and to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Senate” after “to the committees referred to in subsection (a)” in introductory provisions. Subsec. (b)(6). Pub. L. 115–118, § 107(b)(1), added par. (6). Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 115–118, § 107(b)(2), added subsec. (c). 2015—Subsec. (b)(4), (5). Pub. L. 114–23 added pars. (4) and (5). 2006—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 109–177, § 128(b), inserted “, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate,” after “Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate”. Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 109–177, § 109(b), added par. (3).

§1846 Congressional Oversight

Summary

Title 50, §1846

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Citations & Metadata