Presidential Policy Directive --
Signals Intelligence Activities
POLICY DIRECTIVE/PPD-28
SUBJECT: Signals Intelligence Activities
The United States, like other nations, has gathered intelligence throughout
its history to ensure that national security and foreign policy decisionmakers
have access to timely, accurate, and insightful information.
The collection of signals intelligence is necessary for the United States to
advance its national security and foreign policy interests and to protect its
citizens and the citizens of its allies and partners from harm. At the same
time, signals intelligence activities and the possibility that such activities may
be improperly disclosed to the public pose multiple risks. These include
risks to: our relationships with other nations, including the cooperation we
receive from other nations on law enforcement, counterterrorism, and other
issues; our commercial, economic, and financial interests, including a
potential loss of international trust in U.S. firms and the decreased
willingness of other nations to participate in international data sharing,
privacy, and regulatory regimes; the credibility of our commitment to an
open, interoperable, and secure global Internet; and the protection of
intelligence sources and methods.
In addition, our signals intelligence activities must take into account that all
persons should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their
nationality or wherever they might reside, and that all persons have
legitimate privacy interests in the handling of their personal information.
In determining why, whether, when, and how the United States conducts
signals intelligence activities, we must weigh all of these considerations in a
context in which information and communications technologies are
constantly changing. The evolution of technology has created a world where
communications important to our national security and the communications
all of us make as part of our daily lives are transmitted through the same
channels. This presents new and diverse opportunities for, and challenges
with respect to, the collection of intelligence – and especially signals
intelligence. The United States Intelligence Community (IC) has achieved
remarkable success in developing enhanced capabilities to perform its
signals intelligence mission in this rapidly changing world, and these
