National Security Letters (NSLs), controversial investigation requests often paired with a gag order, might now come with an expiration date.
In its Signals Intelligence Reform 2015 Anniversary report, the government wrote that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will “now presumptively terminate National Security Letter nondisclosure orders at the earlier of three years after the opening of a fully predicated investigation or the investigation's close.”
Although at first read the statement seems to allude to the reform being in place already, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) pointed out that this is not the case.
In an unsealed letter to the Ninth Circuit, the government said the FBI is “in the process of formulating and drafting guidelines for the implementation of the policy described in the Report,” and that the applicability of the new policy “remains to be determined.”
