In it's opening statement in front of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 7 2017, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats states the following regarding FISA Section 702:
At the outset, I want to stress three things as a backdrop to everything else that my colleagues and I are presenting today. First, as I mentioned at the outset, collection under 702 has produced and continues to produce intelligence that is vital to protect the Nation against international terrorism and other threats.
Secondly, there are important legal limitations found within Section 702 of FISA and let me note four of these legal limitations. First, the authorities granted under Section 702 may only be used to target foreign persons located abroad for foreign intelligence purposes. Secondly, they may not be used to target U.S. persons anywhere in the world. Third, they may not be used to target anyone located inside the United States, regardless of their nationality. And fourth, they may not be used to target a foreign person when the intent is to acquire the communications of a U.S. person with whom a foreign person is communicating. This is generally referred to as the prohibition against reverse targeting.
The third item I would like to stress is that we are committed to ensuring that the intelligence community's use of 702 is consistent with the law and the protection of the privacy and civil liberties of Americans. And to that end, in the nearly 10 years since Congress enacted the FAA, there have been no instances of intentional violations of Section 702. I'd like to repeat that. In the nearly 10 years since Congress enacted the amendments to the Freedom Act, the act that established FISA, there have been no instances of intentional violations of Section 702.
