Intel report states FBI conducted nearly 2 million searches of US data related to cyberattacks in 2021
By Katie Bo Lillis and Sean Lyngaas, CNN Washington (CNN) - The FBI conducted up to 3.4 million warrantless searches of Americans' electronic data last year including 1.9 million related to a cyber threat from Russia, according to an annual transparency report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Friday. The report is the first time that the US intelligence community has disclosed even an approximate number of the FBI's searches of American data using the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The law is focused on threats emanating from outside of the United States, but also allows the FBI, the CIA and others to search data for Americans' information provided there is a validly predicated foreign intelligence purpose. The report does not suggest that the FBI acted improperly. The report highlights the big trove of intelligence data that the bureau can tap in pursuing hackers, spies and terrorists. More than half of the FBI's queries w...