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(202) 22475244 May 20, 2020

The Honorable Richard Grenell

Acting Director

Of?ce of the Director of National Intelligence
Washington, DC. 20511

Dear Director Grenell,

I am writing to inquire whether public reporting on the use of Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act
would capture the government?s collection of web browsing and internet searches. As you
know, on May 13, 2020, 59 U.S. Senators voted to prohibit this form of warrantless surveillance,
re?ecting the broad, bipartisan View that it represents a dangerous invasion of Americans?
prlvacy.

There have also been long-standing concerns about the inadequacy of public reporting on the use
of Section 215, including whether the data released annually by the Director of National
Intelligence adequately captures the extent of the government?s collection activities and its
impact on Americans. These concerns are magni?ed by the lack of clarity as to how the public
reporting requirements would apply to web browsing and internet searches.

Current law requires the DN1 to report publicly on the number of targets of Section 215
collection and the number of ?unique identi?ers used to communicate information? the
government collects. In its annual Statistical Transparency Report, the Of?ce of the Director of
National Intelligence has used email addresses as an example of a ?unique identi?er.? While this
may help put into context the scale of the government?s collection of email communications, 1
am concerned it does not necessarily apply to web browsing and internet searches. This
ambiguity creates the likelihood that Congress and the American people may not be given the
information to realize the scale of warrantless government surveillance of their use of the
internet. I therefore request that you respond to the following questions:

How would the government apply the public reporting requirements for Section 215 to
web browsing and internet searches? In this context, would the target or ?unique
identi?er? be an IP address?

If the target or ?unique identi?er? is an IP address, would the government differentiate
among multiple individuals using the same IP address, such as family members and
roommates using the same Wi?Fi network, or could numerous users appear as a single
target or ?unique identi?er??

If the government were to collect web browsing information about everyone who visited
a particular website, would those visitors be considered targets or ?unique identi?ers? for

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purposes of the public reporting? Would the public reporting data capture every internet
user whose access to that website was collected by the government?

If the government were to collect web browsing and internet searches associated with a
single user, would the public reporting requirement capture the. scope of the

collection? In other words, how would the public reporting requirement distinguish
between the government collecting information about a single visit to a website or a
single search by one person and a month or a year of a person?s internet use?

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

kw

Ron Wyde
United States Senator