The FBI significantly reduced its searches of Americans through a database collected as part of a warrantless surveillance program.
The queries under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act declined by more than half to 57,094, according to an annual transparency report the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released Tuesday. The decrease follows changes the agency made after civil liberties groups and lawmakers from both political parties alleged there had been abuses.
Congress has wrestled with renewing the spying authority —the most critical tool for the intelligence community—because of division over the need to require warrants for ...