UNITED STATES V. MOHAMUD 47 persons. Targeting and minimization procedures govern, respectively, who may be targeted for surveillance and how intercepted communications are to be retained and disseminated. In brief, targeting procedures must be “reasonably designed” to “ensure that any acquisition authorized under [the certification] is limited to targeting persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States” and to “prevent the intentional acquisition of any communication as to which the sender and all intended recipients are known at the time of the acquisition to be located in the United States.” 50 U.S.C. § 1881a(d)(1). Among other requirements, minimization procedures must be “reasonably designed” “to minimize the acquisition and retention, and prohibit the dissemination, of nonpublicly available information concerning unconsenting United States persons consistent with the need of the United States to obtain, produce, and disseminate foreign intelligence information.” 50 U.S.C. §§ 1801(h)(1), 1881a(e)(1). After evaluating the protections detailed in § 702 and the classified minimization procedures, the district court concluded that as applied to Mohamud, § 702 is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Based on our review of the classified record, we agree that the applicable targeting and minimization procedures, which were followed in practice, sufficiently protected Mohamud’s privacy interest. The government also contends that certain oversight procedures provide an important check on Executive Branch actions. For example, § 702 requires the Attorney General (“AG”) and Director of National Intelligence (“DNI”) to certify, among other things, that (1) a significant purpose of

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents