Page:Attorney General Approved U.S. Person Procedures Under E.O. 12333.pdf/1



Executive Order 12333, United States Intelligence Activities (available starting at page 693 at this link), establishes the Executive Branch framework for the country’s national intelligence efforts, and for protecting privacy and civil liberties in the conduct of intelligence activities. It was originally issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. It was most recently revised and re-issued by President George W. Bush in 2008. ODNI released an information paper to explain the 2008 changes.

Part 1 of the Order lays out the various roles and responsibilities of our national security and intelligence elements of the Executive Branch. Restrictions on the conduct of intelligence activities are contained in Part 2 of the Executive Order. Definitions and general terms are addressed in Part 3. Under Section 2.3, Intelligence Community (IC) elements may collect, retain, and disseminate information concerning United States persons pursuant to procedures established by the head of the IC element and approved by the Attorney General after consultation with the DNI (also known as the “Attorney General Guidelines”).

Over the last 10 years, IC elements, the Department of Justice, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have worked to update these Attorney General procedures. The updates have been designed to ensure that the protections for U.S. person information are appropriately designed to protect privacy and civil liberties the digital environment in which the Intelligence Community conducts its activities. Consistent with the Principles of Intelligence Transparency, these procedures have been redrafted to be as unclassified as permissible and were proactively released to the public when they were completed.

For ease of reference to the public, the following table lists the dates on which each element’s Attorney General procedures were approved and provides links to the procedures, if not classified.