U.S. Spied on 89,000 in Last Year

According to a transparency report released on June 27 by the Office of the Director of Intelligence, the U.S. targeted 89,138 individuals or groups in the last year using section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act (FISA), which permits wiretapping of persons believed to be outside the United States without a court order. The report does not indicate how many Americans were targeted, though civil liberties groups say the real number is likely “orders of magnitude” higher than 89,000, since the order also targeted “groups” which may include facilities, websites, or companies—groups “composed of multiple individuals or a foreign power that possesses or is likely to communicate foreign intelligence information,” according to the text of section 702.