In 5 percent – or one in 20 – of the searches looking for data under the NSA’s Section 702, rules were broken in revealing the names of American citizens.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act permits the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to jointly authorize targeting of persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States, but they are limited to targeting non-U.S. persons.
Just weeks before the election, the Obama administration disclosed the problems at a secret hearing of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Circa reports.
The normally supportive court censured administration officials, saying the failure to disclose the extent of the violations earlier amounted to an “institutional lack of candor” and that the improper searches constituted a “very serious Fourth Amendment issue,” according to...