S. 1551: Intelligence Oversight and Surveillance Reform Act

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S. 1551: Intelligence Oversight and Surveillance Reform Act

113th Congress · introduced 2013-09-25 · Crime and Law Enforcement · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

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Official title

Intelligence Oversight and Surveillance Reform Act

Plain summary

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). 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.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] · 13 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Rand Paul (R-KY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI)

Sponsor's campaign money: Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] reported raising $1.9 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-113s1551.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/113/s>

Record fed-us-cong113-s1551 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong113 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong113