it also made him a top focus of the nsa s counter terrorism efforts. nsa, along with its ic partners, spent over two years from 2014 to 2016 looking for haji iman. this search was ultimately successful primarily because of fisa section 702. indeed, based almost exclusively on intelligence activities under section 702, nsa collected a significant body of foreign intelligence about the activities of haji iman and his associates beginning with non-section 702 collection, nsa learned of an individual closely associated with haji iman. nsa used collection, permitted and authorized section 702 to collect intelligence on the close associates of haji iman
fisa act has been subject to rigorous and constant oversight by all three branches of government. indeed, we regularly report to the intelligence and judiciary committees of both the house and the senate how we have implemented the statute. the operational value it is afforded and the extensive measures we take to ensure that the government s use of these authorities complies with the constitution and the laws of the united states. further, over the past few years we have engaged in an unprecedented amount of public transparency on the use of these authorities. in the interest of transparency and because this is a public hearing allow me to provide an overview of the framework for section 702 and the reasons why the congress amended fisa in 2008. i will then briefly address why 702 needs to be re-authorized
in the world. third, they may not be used to target anyone located inside the united states regardless of their national. fourth, they may not be used to target a foreign person when the intent is to acquire the communications of a u.s. person with whom a foreign person is communicating. this is generally referred to as the prohibition against reverse targeting. the third item i would like to stress is we are committed to ensuring that the intelligence community s use of 702 is consistent with the law and the protection of the privacy and civil liberties of americans and to that end in the nearly 10 years since congress enacted the faa there have been no instances of intentional violations of section 702. i would like to repeat that. in the nearly 10 years since
intelligence committee staff will be meeting following this public hearing in a classified session and admiral rogers has instructed his experts to address this issue in greater detail. before i wrap up my remarks i want to provide one final example that i have for the purposes of today s hearing chosen to declassify using my authority as the director of national intelligence to further illustrate the value of section 702. before rising through the ranks to become at one point the second in command of the self-proclaimed islamic state of iraq, isis, iman was a high school teacher and imam. his transformation from citizen to terrorist caused the u.s. government to offer a $7 million reward for information leading to him.
iman s location. u.s. forces returned fire, killing him and the other associates at that location. subsequent section 702 collection confirmed his death. as you can see from this sensitive example, section 702 is an extremely valuable intelligence collection tool and one that is subject to a rigorous, effective oversight program and therefore allow me to reiterate my call on behalf of the intelligence community without hesitation, my call for permanent reauthorization of the fisa amendments act without further amendment. mr. chairman, thank you for your patience. and we would be willing to be open to your questions. thank you, director coates. the chair would recognize himself for five minutes of questions. in 2012 i mentioned in our opening statement director of national intelligence jim