The National Security Agency (NSA)—one of the country’s biggest intelligence agencies—has been rapidly developing and deploying AI, but we still know remarkably little about this transformation and its impact on civil rights and civil liberties. As the NSA increasingly integrates AI into its daily operations and some of its most profound decisions, it has left the public largely in the dark about how it is using AI and what safeguards, if any, are in place to protect everyday Americans. In March 2024, the ACLU filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act seeking the release of recently completed studies, roadmaps, and reports that show how the NSA is using AI and how those tools affect people’s privacy and civil liberties. When the government failed to release the documents sought in our FOIA request, we filed suit in April 2024 to challenge this unjustified secrecy and compel public disclosure of these documents.

ACLU v. NSA seeks to compel the government to disclose recent court opinions concerning spying conducted under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — one of the most sweeping surveillance authorities ever enacted by Congress. Public access to these records is essential for an informed debate as Congress considers whether to reform or reauthorize this surveillance law ahead of its sunset in December 2023.

Federal government agencies are increasingly engaging in social media surveillance: that is, the collection, monitoring, and retention of individuals’ online speech, activities, and associations. Publicly available information shows that several federal agencies are investing in technology and systems that enable the programmatic and sustained tracking of social media information on U.S. citizens and non-citizens alike. Once government agencies collect this information, they may share it or use it to influence immigration decisions. This surveillance also raises the risk that people will be wrongly investigated or placed on government watchlists.

In October 2022, the Biden administration confirmed the existence of the White House’s latest set of policy rules governing the United States’ use of lethal force outside of recognized battlefields abroad. These new rules are known as the “Presidential Policy Memorandum (PPM).” The administration made the partially-redacted PPM public in response to the latest in a series of ACLU lawsuits to force transparency about the U.S. government’s secretive, unlawful, and controversial use of lethal force abroad, including through the use of drones.