50 U.S.C. § 1874

Public reporting by persons subject to orders

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(a) ReportingA person subject to a nondisclosure requirement accompanying an order or directive under this chapter or a national security letter may, with respect to such order, directive, or national security letter, publicly report the following information using one of the following structures:(1) A semiannual report that aggregates the number of orders, directives, or national security letters with which the person was required to comply into separate categories of—(A) the number of national security letters received, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999;(B) the number of customer selectors targeted by national security letters, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999;(C) the number of orders or directives received, combined, under this chapter for contents, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999;(D) the number of customer selectors targeted under orders or directives received, combined, under this chapter for contents, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999;(E) the number of orders received under this chapter for noncontents, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999; and(F) the number of customer selectors targeted under orders under this chapter for noncontents, reported in bands of 1000 starting with 0–999, pursuant to—(i) subchapter III;(ii) subchapter IV with respect to applications described in section 1861(b)(2)(B) 11 See References in Text note below. of this title; and(iii) subchapter IV with respect to applications described in section 1861(b)(2)(C) ¹ of this title.(2) A semiannual report that aggregates the number of orders, directives, or national security letters with which the person was required to comply into separate categories of—(A) the number of national security letters received, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499;(B) the number of customer selectors targeted by national security letters, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499;(C) the number of orders or directives received, combined, under this chapter for contents, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499;(D) the number of customer selectors targeted under orders or directives received, combined, under this chapter for contents, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499;(E) the number of orders received under this chapter for noncontents, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499; and(F) the number of customer selectors targeted under orders received under this chapter for noncontents, reported in bands of 500 starting with 0–499.(3) A semiannual report that aggregates the number of orders, directives, or national security letters with which the person was required to comply into separate categories of—(A) the total number of all national security process received, including all national security letters, and orders or directives under this chapter, combined, reported in bands of 250 starting with 0–249; and(B) the total number of customer selectors targeted under all national security process received, including all national security letters, and orders or directives under this chapter, combined, reported in bands of 250 starting with 0–249.(4) An annual report that aggregates the number of orders, directives, and national security letters the person was required to comply with into separate categories of—(A) the total number of all national security process received, including all national security letters, and orders or directives under this chapter, combined, reported in bands of 100 starting with 0–99; and(B) the total number of customer selectors targeted under all national security process received, including all national security letters, and orders or directives under this chapter, combined, reported in bands of 100 starting with 0–99.(b) Period of time covered by reports(1) A report described in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (a) shall include only information—(A) relating to national security letters for the previous 180 days; and(B) relating to authorities under this chapter for the 180-day period of time ending on the date that is not less than 180 days prior to the date of the publication of such report, except that with respect to a platform, product, or service for which a person did not previously receive an order or directive (not including an enhancement to or iteration of an existing publicly available platform, product, or service) such report shall not include any information relating to such new order or directive until 540 days after the date on which such new order or directive is received.(2) A report described in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) shall include only information relating to the previous 180 days.(3) A report described in paragraph (4) of subsection (a) shall include only information for the 1-year period of time ending on the date that is not less than 1 year prior to the date of the publication of such report.(c) Other forms of agreed to publication

Nothing in this section prohibits the Government and any person from jointly agreeing to the publication of information referred to in this subsection in a time, form, or manner other than as described in this section.

(d) DefinitionsIn this section:(1) Contents

The term “contents” has the meaning given that term under section 2510 of title 18.

(2) National security letter

The term “national security letter” has the meaning given that term under section 1873 of this title.

(Pub. L. 95–511, title VI, § 604, as added Pub. L. 114–23, title VI, § 603(a), June 2, 2015, 129 Stat. 295; amended Pub. L. 115–118, title II, § 205(a)(4), Jan. 19, 2018, 132 Stat. 21.)Editorial NotesReferences in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsecs. (a) and (b)(1)(B), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 95–511, Oct. 25, 1978, 92 Stat. 1783, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1801 of this title and Tables.

Section 1861(b)(2)(B), (C) of this title, referred to in subsec. (a)(1)(F)(ii), (iii), means section 1861(b)(2)(B), (C) of this title prior to the amendment of section 1861 by Pub. L. 109–177, title I, § 102(b), Mar. 9, 2006, 120 Stat. 195, set out as an Effective Date of 2006 Amendment note under section 1805 of this title, which amended section 1861 of this title, effective Mar. 15, 2020, so that such section read as it read on Oct. 25, 2001, with certain exceptions.

Amendments

2018—Subsec. (a)(1)(D). Pub. L. 115–118, § 205(a)(4)(A), substituted “contents,” for “contents”.

Subsec. (a)(3). Pub. L. 115–118, § 205(a)(4)(B), substituted “comply into” for “comply in the into” in introductory provisions.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 7 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 2015–2023 · leading case: Twitter, Inc. v. Merrick Garland, 61 F.4th 686 (9th Cir. 2023).

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Twitter, Inc. v. Merrick Garland, 61 F.4th 686 (9th Cir. 2023). · cites it 7× “The relevant provision, now codified at 50 U.S.C. § 1874 , allows any “person subject to a nondisclosure requirement accompanying” a FISA order or an NSL publicly to disclose certain limited information about his receipt of national TWITTER, INC.”

Nat'l Sec. Letter v. Sessions, 863 F.3d 1110 (9th Cir. 2017). · cites it 5× “The 2015 legislation amending the NSL law also added 50 U.S.C. § 1874 , which allows “[a] person subject to a nondisclosure requirement” to disclose aggregate data regarding the number of NSLs (in specified ranges or “bands”) that the person has received.”

Lynch v. Seal, 165 F. Supp. 3d 352 (D. Maryland 2015). “One other observation is that the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 included a new United States Code section, 50 U.S.C. § 1874 , that permits public reporting of the receipt of national security process by persons subject to such orders, including NSLs.”

Under Seal v. Jefferson Sessions (9th Cir. 2022). · cites it 4× “The 2015 legislation amending the NSL law also added 50 U.S.C. § 1874 , which allows “[a] person subject to a nondisclosure requirement” to disclose aggregate data regarding the number of NSLs (in specified ranges or “bands”) that the person has received.”

Twitter, Inc. v. Barr (N.D. Cal. 2020). · cites it 3× “See 50 U.S.C. § 1874 (c) (“Nothing in this section prohibits the Government and 1 protections required by Freedman do not apply to its decision that the information in the Draft 2 Transparency Report was national security information properly classified under Executive Order 3…”

Merrick Garland v. Under Seal, 35 F.4th 1181 (9th Cir. 2022). “§ 2709 (c)(1)(A), it can report certain information in annual or semiannual reports, such as the aggregate number of NSLs received in bands of 1,000, see 50 U.S.C. § 1874 (a)(1)(A). The NSL provisions were enacted as part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 and…”

Twitter, Inc. v. Sessions, 263 F. Supp. 3d 803 (N.D. Cal. 2017). “50 U.S.C. § 1874 (a)(4). Despite section 1874(c)’s grant of discretion to permit greater detail in reporting, the statute offers no procedure to petition for such exercise of discretion.”

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