Signals Intelligence Activities While protecting our nation through the collection of signals intelligence SIGINT as authorized by law and policy the Central Intelligence Agency CIA referred to herein as the Agency is committed to protecting the personal information of all people regardless of their nationality This regulation establishes the principles that govern how the CIA conducts SIGINT activities and codifies into formal policy many existing practices which had not been previously put forth in a single regulatory issuance Definitions      Foreign person - means a person who does not meet the definition of “United States person” in Executive Order 12333 Intelligence - has the same meaning as it does in the National Security Act of 1947 Personal information - covers the same types of information covered by “information concerning U S persons” under Section 2 3 of Executive Order 12333 SIGINT collected in bulk - means the authorized collection of large quantities of signals intelligence data which due to technical or operations considerations is acquired without the use of discriminants e g specific identifiers selection terms etc United States person - has the same meaning as it does in Executive Order 12333 General Policy The Agency shall not collect SIGINT unless authorized to do so by statute or Executive Order proclamation or other Presidential directive and such collection shall be undertaken in accordance with the Constitution and applicable statutes Executive Orders proclamations Presidential directives Agency regulatory issuances and implementing guidance     Privacy and civil liberties shall be integral considerations in the planning of SIGINT activities SIGINT shall be collected exclusively where there is a foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose to support national and CIA missions and not for any other purpose The collection of foreign private commercial information or trade secrets is authorized only to protect the national security of the United States or its partners and allies It is not an authorized foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose to collect such information to afford a competitive advantage to U S companies and U S business sectors commercially Certain economic purposes such as identifying trade or sanctions violations or government influence or direction shall not constitute competitive advantage SIGINT activities shall be as tailored as feasible In determining whether to collect SIGINT the Agency shall consider the availability of other information including from diplomatic and public sources Such appropriate and feasible alternatives to SIGINT shall be prioritized by means of the least intrusive technique required to obtain the intelligence of the nature reliability and timeliness required The collection use retention and dissemination of information concerning “United States persons” are governed by multiple legal and policy requirements such as those required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 1 FISA the Privacy Act of 1974 and Executive Order 12333 This regulation is not intended to alter the rules applicable to U S persons in FISA the Privacy Act Executive Order 12333 or other applicable law Collection Refining the Process for Collecting Signals Intelligence The Agency shall participate in the United States Government USG policy processes for establishing SIGINT collection priorities and requirements    PPD-28 provides that the Agency must collect bulk SIGINT in certain circumstances in order to identify new or emerging threats and other vital national security information which is often hidden within the large and complex system of modern global communications It also recognizes the privacy and civil liberties concerns raised when bulk SIGINT is collected PPD-28 directs the Intelligence Community IC to assess the feasibility of alternatives that would allow the IC to conduct targeted SIGINT collection rather than bulk SIGINT collection Accordingly when engaging in SIGINT collection the Agency should conduct targeted SIGINT collection activities rather than bulk SIGINT collection activities when practicable SIGINT collection activities should be directed against specific foreign intelligence targets or topics through the use of discriminants e g specific facilities identifiers selection terms etc when practicable Agency components shall consult with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer PCLO and the Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency EXDIR or their designees on novel or unique SIGINT collection activities and any significant changes to existing SIGINT collection activities to ensure that there are appropriate safeguards to protect personal information The Agency shall on an annual basis review SIGINT priorities and requirements identified by the Agency and advise the Director of National Intelligence DNI whether each should be maintained with a copy of the advice provided to the Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor APNSA Excluded Activities The above does not apply to SIGINT activities undertaken by the CIA in support of     human intelligence HUMINT operations covert action FBI predicated law enforcement investigations other than those conducted solely for purposes of acquiring foreign intelligence or military operations in an area of active hostilities 2 Use of SIGINT Collected in Bulk The Agency shall use SIGINT collected in bulk only for the purposes of detecting or countering        espionage and other threats and activities directed by foreign powers or their intelligence services against the United States and its interests threats to the United States and its interests from terrorism threats to the United States and its interests from the development possession proliferation or use of weapons of mass destruction cybersecurity threats threats to U S or allied Armed Forces or other U S or allied personnel transnational criminal threats including illicit finance and sanctions evasion related to the other purposes identified in the section on “Use of SIGINT Collection in Bulk” and any threat to the national security determined to be a permissible use of SIGINT collected in bulk in the review process established by Section 2 of PPD-28 or for any other lawful purpose when approved by the President The Agency shall not use SIGINT collected in bulk for the purpose of     suppressing or burdening criticism or dissent disadvantaging persons based upon their ethnicity race gender sexual orientation or religion affording a competitive advantage to U S companies and U S business sectors commercially or achieving any other purpose than those identified above As provided in footnote 5 of PPD-28 the prohibitions noted immediately above on the use of SIGINT collected in bulk do not apply to SIGINT collected in bulk that is temporarily acquired to facilitate the acquisition of targeted collection The Agency shall participate in the policy processes for reviewing the permissible uses of SIGINT collected in bulk The Agency shall on an annual basis review the Agency’s use of SIGINT collected in bulk and advise the DNI and APNSA on recommended additions to or removals from the list of permissible uses of SIGINT collected in bulk Systems containing SIGINT collected in bulk shall record sufficient details of queries to enable oversight and compliance with permissible uses of SIGINT collected in bulk and to enable retention determinations 3 Retention and Access Retention of personal information concerning foreign persons acquired through SIGINT activities is authorized only if the Agency has lawfully collected or received the information in accordance with FISA or Part I of Executive Order 12333 and the processes established by PPD-28 and the retention of comparable information concerning U S persons would be permitted under Section 2 3 of Executive Order 12333 Such information shall be subject to the same retention periods as comparable information concerning U S persons Information for which no permanent retention determination has been made shall not be retained for more than five 5 years unless the DNI expressly determines that continued retention is in the national security interests of the United States Information for which no permanent retention determination has been made may be retained for up to five 5 years or the extended period approved by the DNI to determine whether it falls within one of the following categories that meet the standard for permanent retention           information that is publicly available or collected with the consent of the person concerned information constituting foreign intelligence or counterintelligence If the Agency is permanently retaining personal information concerning a foreign person because it is foreign intelligence the information must relate to an authorized intelligence requirement and cannot be retained solely because of the person’s foreign status Thus for example personal information about the routine activities of a foreign person may not be retained unless it relates to an authorized foreign intelligence requirement information obtained in the course of a lawful foreign intelligence counterintelligence international drug or international terrorism investigation information needed to protect the safety of any persons or organizations including those who are targets victims or hostages of international terrorist organizations information needed to protect foreign intelligence or counterintelligence sources methods and activities from unauthorized disclosure information concerning persons who are reasonably believed to be potential sources or contacts for the purpose of determining their suitability or credibility information arising out of a lawful personnel physical or communications security investigation information acquired by overhead reconnaissance not directed at specific U S persons incidentally obtained information that may indicate involvement in activities that may violate Federal state local or foreign laws and information necessary for administrative purposes Personal information acquired through SIGINT activities for which no determination has been made that it can be permissibly disseminated or retained shall be accessed only in order to make such determinations or to conduct authorized administrative security compliance and oversight functions 4 Adequate protections of personal information shall be provided to prevent unauthorized access consistent with the applicable safeguards for sensitive information contained in relevant Executive Orders proclamations Presidential directives Intelligence Community Directives ICDs and associated policies Access to personal information acquired through SIGINT activities shall be limited to authorized and trained personnel such as personnel responsible for analyzing and processing the information who have a need to know the information in order to perform their mission consistent with the personnel security requirements of relevant Executive Orders ICDs and associated policies Personnel will be provided appropriate and adequate training in the principles set forth in this regulation and any associated guidance before being authorized access to unevaluated and unminimized personal information acquired through SIGINT activities Training is required for those personnel who engage in collection requirements targeting or other disciplines that deal with SIGINT collection Further administrators and other support personnel who require access to these collections also must be trained prior to being granted access Failure to obtain or maintain training requirements will result in the loss of access until requirements are met Personnel querying databases containing information acquired through SIGINT activities shall structure query terms and techniques in a manner reasonably designed to identify intelligence relevant to an authorized intelligence requirement and minimize the review of personal information not relevant to an authorized intelligence requirement Systems containing SIGINT shall record sufficient details of purges to enable oversight and compliance with retention policies Dissemination Dissemination of personal information concerning foreign persons acquired through SIGINT activities is authorized only if the Agency has lawfully collected or received the information in accordance with FISA or Part I of Executive Order 12333 and the processes established by PPD-28 and the dissemination of comparable information concerning U S persons would be permitted under Section 2 3 of Executive Order 12333 as listed in the Retention Section above If the Agency is disseminating personal information concerning a foreign person because it is foreign intelligence the information must relate to an authorized intelligence requirement and cannot be disseminated solely because of the person’s foreign status Thus for example personal information about the routine activities of a foreign person may not be disseminated unless it relates to an authorized foreign intelligence requirement The Agency shall establish policies and procedures reasonably designed to minimize the retention and dissemination of personal information acquired through SIGINT activities 5 The Agency shall include personal information in intelligence products and reports only as consistent with applicable IC standards for accuracy and objectivity and as necessary to meet an analytic or operational purpose as set forth in relevant IC directives When disseminating unevaluated SIGINT that may contain personal information the Agency will inform the recipient that the dissemination may contain personal information so that the recipient can take appropriate steps to protect that information Dissemination of personal information acquired through SIGINT activities to a foreign government is authorized only if the dissemination meets the following criteria   the dissemination is in the interests of the United States and the dissemination complies with applicable laws Executive Orders and IC policies Compliance Agency policies and procedures shall include appropriate measures to facilitate compliance and oversight of the implementation of safeguards protecting personal information acquired through SIGINT activities to include periodic auditing against the standards required by this regulation and implementing guidance and training for personnel authorized to access such information Agency information systems will be designed to monitor activity in datasets involving personal information and facilitate the monitoring recording and auditing of queries of personal information The Agency shall notify personnel how they may securely report violations of law regulation or policy When a significant compliance issue occurs involving personal information of any person regardless of nationality collected as a result of SIGINT activities the issue shall in addition to any existing reporting requirements be reported promptly to the PCLO who shall determine what if any corrective actions are necessary All significant compliance issues involving personal information shall be promptly reported to the DNI If the issue involves a foreign person the DNI in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency D CIA shall determine whether steps should be taken to notify the relevant foreign government consistent with the protection of sources and methods and of U S personnel Responsibilities The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency D CIA shall approve any exception to any provision of this regulation that is not required by the Constitution or a statute Executive Order proclamation or Presidential directive and notify and if practicable consult in 6 advance the ODNI and the National Security Division NSD of the Department of Justice DOJ The Deputy Director of Central Intelligence Agency DD CIA or designee shall oversee the annual review of SIGINT priorities and requirements identified by the Agency and advise the D CIA for subsequent passage to the DNI and APNSA on whether such activities should be maintained manage the Agency’s participation in the policy review process for reviewing SIGINT collection activities to include sensitive SIGINT collection activities and the use of bulk SIGINT The Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency EXDIR or designee shall    Establish CIA policies procedures and guidance for the implementation of this regulation to include  Training  Limitations on the use of bulk SIGINT  Review of SIGINT collection activities  Procedures to minimize the retention and dissemination of personal information acquired through SIGINT activities and  Other issues as required In coordination with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer PCLO  Coordinate on novel or unique collection activities or significant changes to existing collection activities to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect personal information acquired through such activities  Establish procedures to receive evaluate and report significant compliance incidents for this regulation to the DNI and  Review requests for extended retention of personal information concerning foreign persons acquired through SIGINT activities and advise the DD CIA and the D CIA whether they should be transmitted to the DNI Monitor implementation and compliance with the established policies procedures and guidance for PPD-28 The Inspector General shall as part of the IG’s statutory responsibilities conduct audits inspections and investigations of CIA programs and operations to determine compliance with applicable laws and regulations The PCLO shall    provide compliance advice and assistance regarding the requirements of PPD-28 this regulation or any additional procedures or guidance for PPD-28 coordinate on novel or unique collection activities or significant changes to existing collection activities to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect personal information acquired through such activities conduct periodic oversight and assessments of personal information acquired through SIGINT activities to ensure compliance with privacy and civil liberties 7     advise the D CIA the DD CIA the EXDIR or an appropriate designee and Heads of Directorates and Independent Offices on the development of  procedures to safeguard personal information acquired through SIGINT activities and  privacy and civil liberties training in support of PPD-28 principles produce privacy and civil liberties reports in coordination with the affected Directorates and Independent Offices report significant compliance issues involving personal information acquired through SIGINT activities to the D CIA and DNI and coordinate on requests for extended retention of personal information concerning foreign persons acquired through SIGINT activities for privacy and civil liberties issues The Heads of CIA Directorates and Independent Offices shall        implement the policies procedures and guidance established by this regulation in coordination with the EXDIR or designee provide training to personnel who require access in the performance of their duties to personal information acquired through SIGINT activities in the performance of their duties initiate requests to the EXDIR or designee in coordination with the PCLO for extended retention of personal information of foreign persons acquired through SIGINT activities on an annual basis review SIGINT priorities and requirements identified by respective offices and advise the EXDIR or designee on whether these should be maintained working with the EXDIR or designee participate in the policy review process for SIGINT activities to include sensitive SIGINT collection activities and permissible uses of bulk SIGINT assist the EXDIR or designee IG and PCLO in conducting oversight and periodic assessments of SIGINT collection activities containing personal information and consult with the EXDIR or designee and PCLO on novel or unique SIGINT collection activities and significant changes to existing SIGINT collection activities to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect personal information acquired through such activities Agency personnel shall   comply with the principles policies and procedures of this regulation and any implementing guidance and report compliance issues to the appropriate Head of Directorate or Independent Office and the PCLO 8