National Security Letters

E10927

administrative subpoena legal instrument

National Security Letters are secret administrative subpoenas used primarily by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies to obtain information such as phone, email, and financial records without prior judicial approval, often accompanied by gag orders.

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All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
National Security Letters canonical	3
National Security Letter authorities	2

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	administrative subpoena ⓘ legal instrument ⓘ
associatedWith	gag order ⓘ
canCompelDisclosureOf	billing records ⓘ subscriber information ⓘ transaction records ⓘ
canIncludeGagOrder	yes ⓘ
challengedIn	federal courts ⓘ
controversy	First Amendment concerns ⓘ Fourth Amendment concerns ⓘ civil liberties concerns ⓘ lack of judicial oversight ⓘ secrecy of investigations ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
criticizedBy	American Civil Liberties Union ⓘ Electronic Frontier Foundation ⓘ civil liberties organizations ⓘ
gagOrderRestricts	disclosure of NSL contents ⓘ disclosure of NSL existence ⓘ
issuedBy	FBI Special Agent in Charge ⓘ FBI field office director ⓘ
jurisdiction	United States federal law ⓘ
legalBasis	18 U.S.C. § 2709 ⓘ Electronic Communications Privacy Act ⓘ USA PATRIOT Act ⓘ
mayBeChallengedBy	recipient ⓘ
oversightBy	United States Congress ⓘ surface form: U.S. Congress United States Department of Justice ⓘ surface form: U.S. Department of Justice
purpose	obtain customer records ⓘ obtain email records ⓘ obtain financial records ⓘ obtain phone records ⓘ
relatedTo	Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ⓘ surface form: FISA Court Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ⓘ USA PATRIOT Act ⓘ surface form: USA PATRIOT Act Section 505
requiresPriorJudicialApproval	no ⓘ
requiresRelevanceTo	authorized national security investigation ⓘ
subjectArea	counterintelligence ⓘ counterterrorism ⓘ national security ⓘ
subjectToReform	USA FREEDOM Act ⓘ
timePeriodOfExpandedUse	post-September 11, 2001 ⓘ
typicalRecipient	credit reporting agency ⓘ financial institution ⓘ internet service provider ⓘ telecommunications provider ⓘ
usedBy	Federal Bureau of Investigation ⓘ United States Intelligence Community ⓘ surface form: U.S. intelligence agencies U.S. law enforcement agencies ⓘ

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

USA PATRIOT Act → authorizes → National Security Letters ⓘ

USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 → regulates → National Security Letters ⓘ

Public Law 114-23 → reforms → National Security Letters ⓘ

this entity surface form: National Security Letter authorities

H.R. 2048 → affectsProvision → National Security Letters ⓘ

this entity surface form: National Security Letter authorities

Public Law 109-177 → containsProvisionOn → National Security Letters ⓘ