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Surveillance is the observation or collection of information about people, places, or activity, often so that someone can identify, track, investigate, or make decisions about what they observe. It can mean a camera recording a public space, software matching a face to an image, or an agency collecting communications-related or location data. Those practices are not interchangeable: who collects the information, why, what is gathered, and what rules apply all matter.
This explainer focuses on U.S. government practice and oversight where it discusses law or federal agencies. It also covers commercial and everyday technologies, for which the applicable rules can differ.
What is surveillance?
Surveillance is a way of observing people or activity, collecting information about them, or analyzing records to draw conclusions about them. It may be direct, such as a person watching a live camera feed, or indirect, such as software searching stored images or linking records from multiple sources.
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Different forms of surveillance
- Visual monitoring: cameras, drones, and other tools that observe or record places and activity.
- Identification and biometrics: facial recognition and other techniques that attempt to connect a person to an image or biological characteristic.
- Location and sensor data: information generated by phones, embedded sensors, or devices in shared spaces.
- Communications-related collection: information collected under specific authorities concerning communications or associated records.
- Analysis and linkage: searching, classifying, or combining data to identify patterns, people, or events.
A system may merely record activity, or it may identify individuals and connect observations over time. That distinction affects both the privacy impact and the safeguards that make sense.
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How does surveillance work in everyday settings?
Surveillance can involve public agencies, businesses, organizations, or individuals. A camera may be used to observe a site, while connected software can add functions such as searching footage or attempting to identify people. Records may also be generated by phones and embedded sensors, then stored or analyzed. A witness in a congressional hearing described the growing integration of cameras with facial recognition and other AI-based tracking, as well as expanding storage of video and audio. That testimony provides context about available technologies; it is not a measured inventory of their use nationwide.
To understand any particular system, ask who operates it, what it captures, whether it identifies people, why it is used, how long records are retained, who can access or share them, and what independent oversight or remedy exists. A camera recording images is not automatically equivalent to biometric identification or government intelligence collection.
How does government surveillance work in the United States?
Government surveillance is not one system or one legal authority. Federal intelligence collection, federal law-enforcement investigations, local policing, and public-space monitoring can involve different purposes, technologies, rules, and oversight. A finding about one agency or authority should not be generalized to all government surveillance.
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Public-space monitoring
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed selected Department of Homeland Security law-enforcement agencies and found they used more than 20 types of detection, observation, and monitoring technologies, including drones, pole-mounted cameras, facial recognition, and license-plate readers. GAO noted that use in public places does not necessarily require a warrant in advance, while raising privacy, civil-rights, and civil-liberties concerns. This is a bounded finding about the selected agencies and technologies, not a rule for every surveillance practice.
National-security authorities
National-security surveillance operates under specific legal authorities and oversight regimes. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s report released in 2026 covers calendar year 2025 and discusses authorities including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and National Security Letters. It says the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, enacted in April 2024, reauthorized FISA Title VII authorities for two years and added compliance and reporting provisions. That framework concerns its specified authorities; it should not be treated as the rules for local policing or consumer devices.
Under Section 702, only non-U.S. persons may be targeted. ODNI’s estimated target counts were:
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| Calendar year | Estimated Section 702 targets | Source and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 349,823 | ODNI report released in 2026; estimated targets under Section 702 |
| 2024 | 291,824 | ODNI report released in 2026; estimated targets under Section 702 |
| 2023 | 268,590 | ODNI report released in 2026; estimated targets under Section 702 |
These figures count estimated targets under a defined authority. They are not a count of every person whose information may be affected by surveillance.
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Can the government watch you without a warrant?
There is no universal yes-or-no answer. Whether a warrant is required depends on the jurisdiction, the kind of information or activity involved, the government actor, the purpose, and the legal authority being used. GAO’s finding that certain selected DHS technologies can be used in public without a warrant in advance does not establish a rule for other tools, settings, agencies, or investigations.
For a specific situation, the useful questions are what was collected, who collected it, under which authority, whether the activity was targeted or broad, and what oversight or challenge process applies. The U.S. federal sources discussed here do not establish the law for every state, locality, or non-U.S. country.
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What is facial recognition surveillance?
Facial recognition uses software to analyze a face in an image and compare it with other images or records, often to suggest or confirm an identity. It differs from ordinary camera monitoring: a camera can record a scene without attempting to identify the people in it. Identification can make footage searchable in ways that increase the consequences of error or misuse.
GAO’s 2022 reporting found that 18 of 24 surveyed federal agencies reported using facial recognition for one or more purposes in fiscal year 2020, including access and law-enforcement investigations. Separately, 14 of 42 surveyed federal agencies employing law-enforcement officers reported using it in criminal investigations. These are dated survey findings for the stated samples and period, not a current count of all agencies or uses.
GAO has called for attention to bias risk and privacy protections in the use of detection and monitoring technologies. When assessing facial recognition, relevant questions include what image sources are searched, whether a match is treated as a lead or proof, how accuracy and bias are evaluated for the intended use, and whether a person can contest an incorrect identification.
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How do surveillance cameras affect privacy?
Cameras can capture people who did not choose to be recorded, including their movements and interactions. A system’s impact depends on where cameras are placed, whether they record audio or only images, how long footage is kept, who can view it, whether it is shared, and whether analytics identify or track individuals. A home security camera system is one example of a camera-based system; its privacy effects depend on its configuration and handling of recordings, not simply on the presence of a camera.
GAO’s review of selected DHS agencies raised concerns about privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties in public monitoring, and recommended policies for assessing bias risks and applying privacy protections. The report page marked recommendations open and recorded agency responses through 2025. More broadly, a 2024 GAO review found varied approaches among federal agencies to civil-rights and civil-liberties protections when personal data is collected, shared, and used: 16 of 24 large federal agencies reported addressing those protections in separate policies or privacy-compliance activities, while eight reported not considering them in those activities.
How can surveillance be regulated?
Effective safeguards should fit the technology and the purpose rather than treating every form of monitoring alike. GAO’s oversight findings and ODNI transparency materials point to a practical set of questions for evaluating a surveillance system or policy:
- Data: What information is collected, and is collection limited to what is necessary?
- Identification: Are people merely observed, or are they identified and tracked?
- Scope: Who or what is targeted, and how broad is collection?
- Purpose and authority: Why is information collected, and what legal basis applies?
- Notice and consent: Are affected people informed, and is consent relevant or required?
- Access, sharing, and retention: Who can use or disclose the data, and when must it be deleted?
- Accuracy and bias: Is the technology evaluated for its intended use and for disparate error risks?
- Oversight and remedy: Can independent reviewers audit the system, and can affected people challenge errors or misuse?
GAO’s 2024 report recommended government-wide guidance on civil-rights and civil-liberties protections; its page stated that legislative action had not occurred as of February 2026. Separately, a State Department archived summary of principles endorsed in 2023 highlighted internet controls, video surveillance paired with AI, and big-data analytics as areas needing responsible use and human-rights safeguards. That summary is policy guidance, not a statute or a complete account of current law.
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