After the September 11th attacks, Congress passes the USA PATRIOT Act, amending the FBI’s NSL authorities under ECPA, RFPA and FCRA. Section 505 expands and decentralizes the authority for issuing an NSL, allowing issuance by the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of an FBI field office, rather than requiring approval by the FBI Director or Deputy Assistant Director. In addition, the scope of the authority is expanded to include records that are “relevant to an authorized investigation .” The issuing official is no longer required to make a certification of “specific and articulable facts” and need only certify the information sought is “relevant.” The Act adds a limitation that the investigation cannot be predicated sonly on First Amendment protected activities.

The PATRIOT Act also adds a fifth NSL authority, akin to the FBI’s authority under the FCRA, which allows any agency investigating terrorist activity to obtain financial records from a consumer credit agency where such information is “necessary” to the investigation. See Section 505, P.L. 107-56, 115 Stat. 365-66 (2001).