Surveillance

Pentagon Issues First Update To Domestic Surveillance Guidelines In 35 Years, Not All Of It Good

Cody Poplin at Lawfare points out that the Defense Department has just issued an update on rules governing its intelligence collection activities -- the first major update in over 30 years. These would directly affect the NSA, which operates under the Defense Department.

The most significant alteration appears to be to retention periods for US persons data. While everything is still assumed to be lawful under Executive Order 12333 and DoD Directive 5240.1, the point at which a record is deemed to be "collected" -- starting the clock on the retention period -- has changed.

Under the new rules, “collection” occurs “upon receipt,” whereas the previous manual defined “collection” as occurring when the information was “officially accept[ed] … for use.” The change ensures that all protections governing even the incidental collection of U.S. personal information (USPI) applies upon receipt of that information. The clock starts to run as soon as information is collected, meaning that collected information must be promptly evaluated to determine the proper retention period.