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National security letter


A national security letter (NSL) is an administrative subpoena issued by the United States federal government to gather information for national security purposes. NSLs do not require prior approval from a judge. The Stored Communications Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and Right to Financial Privacy Act authorize the United States federal government to seek such information that is "relevant" to authorized national security investigations. By law, NSLs can request only non-content information, for example, transactional records and phone numbers dialed, but never the content of telephone calls or e-mails.

NSLs typically contain a nondisclosure requirement, frequently called a "gag order", forbidding the recipient of an NSL from disclosing that the FBI had requested the information. The nondisclosure order must be authorized by the Director of the FBI, and only after he or she certifies "that otherwise there may result a danger to the national security of the United States, interference with a criminal, counterterrorism, or counterintelligence investigation, interference with diplomatic relations, or danger to the life or physical safety of any person." Even then, the recipient of the NSL may still challenge the nondisclosure order in federal court.

The constitutionality of such nondisclosure orders has been repeatedly challenged. The requirement was initially ruled to be unconstitutional as an infringement of free speech in the Doe v. Gonzales case, but that decision was later vacated in 2008 by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals after it held the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act gave the recipient of an NSL that included a nondisclosure order the right to challenge the nondisclosure order in federal court. In March 2013, district court judge Susan Illston of Federal District Court in San Francisco struck down the law, writing that the prohibition on disclosure of receipt of an NSL made the entire statute impermissibly overbroad under the First Amendment. On August 24, 2015, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the district court's decision and remanded the case back to the district court for further proceedings.


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