3.58.
In summary, the PCLOB concluded that the s702 programme:
(a) “makes a substantial contribution to the government’s efforts to learn about
the membership, goals and activities of international terrorist organizations,
and to prevent acts of terrorism from coming to fruition; and
(b) “allows the government to acquire a greater range of foreign intelligence than
it otherwise would be able to obtain, and .. provides a degree of flexibility not
offered by comparable surveillance authorities”.
That flexibility stemmed, in part, from the considerable freedom granted to the
NSA to target non-US persons located abroad, permitting the targeting of people
who “are not themselves involved in terrorism or any illegitimate activity” and
allowing the government “to quickly begin monitoring new targets and
communications facilities without the delay occasioned by the requirement to
secure approval from the FISA court for each targeting decision”.
3.59.
Specifically, information derived from the use of s702 has:
(a) “helped the United States learn more about the membership, leadership
structure, priorities, tactics, and plans of international terrorist organizations”;
(b) “enabled the discovery of previously unknown terrorist plots directed against
the United States and foreign countries, enabling the disruption of those
plots”; and
(c) “been used to monitor individuals believed to be involved in terrorism”.
3.60.
In the terminology of the UK SIAs, therefore (4.7 below), intelligence derived
from the use of s702 is useful at all three stages of security and intelligence
work: identify, understand and action. The PCLOB commented that:
“Because surveillance is conducted on an individualized basis where there is
reason to target a particular person, it is perhaps unsurprising that the
program yields a good deal of information.”
The same could equally be said of the process described at 2.19(a) above.
3.61.
In terms of intelligence reporting, the PCLOB commented that:
“over a quarter of the NSA’s reports concerning international terrorism include
information based in whole or in part on Section 702 collection, and this
percentage has increased every year since the statute was enacted. These
reports are used by the recipient agencies and departments for a variety of
purposes, including to inform senior leaders in government and for
operational planning.”
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