Annual Statistical Transparency Report

Current Report

The Annual Statistical Transparency Report, commonly referred to as the ASTR, presents data and contextual information on how often the Intelligence Community uses certain national security authorities.

Published and released to the public every year since 2014, the ASTR specifically examines the IC’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA)—which establishes the procedures for requesting judicial authorization for electronic surveillance and other forms of collection to obtain foreign intelligence information. This includes addressing how many targets there were within the calendar year of FISA electronic surveillance, and how many were Americans.

The ASTR also provides statistics on the FISA Section 702 program—an authority that can only be used to target collection at non-U.S. persons, located abroad. Beyond FISA, the report details how often federal agencies requested the identity of a U.S. person that was originally “masked” in any intelligence report to protect the American’s identity—and how often the Intelligence Community granted those requests.

The ASTR has evolved each year to provide more context on the use of these sensitive surveillance authorities, and in response to changes in the laws governing these activities.