PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Sep 25, 2013
Intelligence Oversight and Surveillance Reform Act - Amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to provide additional requirements for obtaining orders for business records in counterterrorism investigations, including that the records sought pertain to a foreign power, an agent of a foreign power, or an individual in contact with, or known to a suspected agent of, a foreign power. Requires additional information if the applicant is seeking a nondisclosure requirement in connection with such request. Allows the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to apply for renewals of nondisclosure requirements.
Authorizes the Attorney General (AG), on an emergency basis and under specified conditions, to require the production of call data records by the provider of a wire or electronic communication service.
Imposes additional requirements on the authorized use of pen registers and trap and trace devices (devices for recording incoming and outgoing telephone numbers), including that: (1) the information sought must pertain to a foreign power, agent thereof, or individual in contact with or known to such an agent; and (2) the application must contain a statement of proposed minimization procedures (procedures designed to minimize the acquisition and retention of such information and to prohibit its unauthorized dissemination).
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Prohibits any U.S. officer or employee from conducting a search of a collection of communications in order to find the communications of a particular U.S. person. Provides exceptions.
Includes among the procedures the Attorney General is required to adopt for targeting persons outside the United States to acquire foreign intelligence information procedures that are reasonably designed to limit the acquisition of the contents of any communication to communications to which any party is a target of the acquisition or communications that refer to such target, if such communications are acquired to protect against international terrorism. Requires acquisition authorization when a significant purpose is to acquire the communications of a particular, known person reasonably believed to be in the United States (thereby, in effect, disallowing random or reverse acquisition targeting). Prohibits the use against any U.S. person of unlawfully obtained information, except with the consent of such person or if the information indicates a threat of death or serious bodily harm to any person. Provides for challenges to surveillance by U.S. persons.
Establishes within the judiciary a Constitutional Advocate to review each application to and decision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court). Authorizes the Advocate to participate in FISA Court proceedings or a petition review pool proceeding and to appeal any decisions of such bodies. Requires the AG to publicly disclose certain decisions of the FISA Court and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. Allows for certain Advocate petitions to such Courts.
Revises requirements for national security letters (drafted by the FBI and requesting communications records of a person or entity) to require the Director to certify reasonable grounds to believe that such records pertain to a foreign power, agent thereof, or individual in contact with or known to such agent. Provides similar requirements with respect to national security letters requesting financial or consumer report records. Requires additional information in the public reporting on the use of national security letters.
Allows electronic service providers to publicly report on information provided under FISA orders and national security letters. Exempts such providers from liability with respect to such reports. Revises generally requirements concerning government reporting on the use of FISA orders.
Amends the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to remove the AG as a required intermediary for subpoenas in connection with authorized activities of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
People & committees
Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] · D–OR
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1551 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1551 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1551 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1551 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.