Number of searches on Americans in FBI foreign intelligence database fell in 2023, report shows
CBSN
The number of searches about Americans conducted by the FBI in a controversial foreign intelligence database fell by almost half in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to a new report released Tuesday by the U.S. intelligence community.
The FBI's searches, some of which were deemed to be improper in the past, were a flashpoint in a months-long fight in Congress over the reauthorization of a surveillance program referred to as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.
The number of FBI queries of what the report terms "U.S. persons" from December 2022 to November 2023 fell to 57,094 from 119,383 in the previous year, according to the Annual Statistical Transparency Report, which is issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.