The Brennan Center, along with 33 other groups, sent a letter to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board urging them to urge disclosure of any information about the legal authorities used to collect telephone or other data from millions of Americans – i.e. opinions of the FISA Court on Section 215 of the Patriot Act, orders on the limitations on the governments collection of telephone metadata, or relevant reports from the Office of Inspector General or Office of Legal Counsel – anything that would enable the public to understand the existing legal authorities for national security surveillance of Americans.
Beyond existing documents, the letter also urged the disclosure of other information necessary for public understanding of the scope of surveillance authorities, safeguards for privacy rights and civil liberties, and the historical development of the law since 2001.