Gill

ORDER ON CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

I. INTRODUCTION'

This is a challenge brought, under the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”), to certain aspects of the National Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (“NSI”), a nationwide program that collects, vets, and disseminates intelligence with a possible nexus to terrorism. Plaintiffs contend defendant Program Manager-Information Sharing Environment (“PM-ISE”) has adopted a so-called “Functional Standard” that utilizes overly broad criteria to define the types of activities deemed as having a potential nexus to terrorism. As a result, plaintiffs allege, state and local law enforcement authorities submit “Suspicious Activity Reports” (“SARs”) to the federal government even if unsupported by reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, and innocent Americans are “wrongly branded as potential terrorists.”

Plaintiffs contend the Functional Standard conflicts with a duly-promulgated DOJ regulation, 28 C.F.R. Part 23 (hereafter “Part 23”), which they assert was adopted to protect constitutional and privacy rights by prohibiting the collection of “criminal intelligence” unless supported by “reasonable suspicion.” The Functional…