“The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) announced today the release of a public version of its most recent report examining the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) use of the investigative authority granted by Section 215 of the Patriot Act to obtain business records. The OIG provided a classified version of this report to Congress and to DOJ leadership in February 2015. The report reviews the FBI’s use of Section 215 authority from 2007 through 2009, and also examines the DOJ’s and FBI’s progress in addressing the

recommendations contained in the OIG’s 2008 report on the FBI’s use of Section 215. This is the OIG’s third report since 2007 on the FBI’s use of Section 215 authority.As described in the public version of the report released today, the OIG found that from 2007through 2009 the DOJ, on behalf of the FBI, submitted 51 Section 215 applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court), all of which were approved. The report notes that the scope of business records sought under Section 215 greatly expanded in response to legislative changes, technological advances, and strategic choices, and that Section 215 orders have been used in investigations of groups comprised of unknown members and to obtain information in bulk concerning persons who are not the subjects of or associated with any FBI investigation. We concluded that these developments require continued and significant oversight by appropriate entities, including the FISA Court and the DOJ’s National Security Division. We also concluded that the DOJ and the FBI have addressed the three recommendations from our 2008 report, but that with respect to one of the recommendations the DOJ should have met its statutory obligation considerably earlier than it did…Section 215 allows the FBI to seek an order from the FISA Court to obtain “any tangible thing,”including books, records, and other items, from anybusiness, organization, or entity, provided the item or items are for an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorismor clandestine intelligence activities. The report publicly released today describes how legislative and technological changes, including society’s increased use of the Internet, have expanded the quality and quantity of electronic information available through the use of Section 215 authority. We found that the FBI has broadened the scope of the materials it has sought, and that the materials produced in response to Section 215 orders range from hard copy reproductions of business ledgers and receipts to gigabytes of metadata and other electronic information. Moreover, Section 215 authority is not limited to requesting information related to the known subjects of specific underlying investigations, and we found that the authority has been used in investigations of groups comprised of unknown members and to obtain information in bulk concerning persons who are not the subjects of or associated with any FBI investigation.”