WASHINGTON — Changes from the FBI and Congress have “significantly reduced” the number of noncompliant searches under a powerful surveillance authority, a Justice Department watchdog reported Thursday.

A review from the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General looked at Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the U.S. government to collect digital communications of foreigners located outside the country.

The authority has drawn criticism from lawmakers, as it allows the government to sweep up the communications of Americans and allows the FBI to search through data without a warrant, using information such as an email address.

Searches of Americans’ information became a focal point of a bitter and prolonged debate in the 118th Congress that pitted privacy hawks against intelligence-focused lawmakers about reauthorization of Section 702.

The inspector general report reviewed oversight reports from the FBI and the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

“Based on those reports, it appears that the FBI is no longer engaging in the widespread noncompliant querying of U.S. persons that was pervasive just a few years ago,” the watchdog report said.

Most improper searches post-legislation were noncompliant due to administrative mistakes, “such as typographical errors, rather than due to fundamental misunderstandings of the query standard,” the report said.

When it came to searches for Americans’ information collected under the program, there was a 98.6% overall compliance rate, as determined by the Justice Department, according to the report.

During the reauthorization debate, intelligence community officials championed the program as a tool to fight terrorism and touted the authority as a critical component to national security. Privacy hawks argued queries of Americans’ information equated to “warrantless” searches.

The final legislative product, which passed Congress last year, codified already existing FBI policies and procedures and required new changes to the agency’s querying practices, according to the watchdog report.

One change in the legislation required FBI employees to get prior sign-off from an FBI supervisor or attorney before conducting a search of Americans’ information acquired under Section 702, with certain exceptions, according to the report.

But the watchdog office also noted its review only covered a one-year range, and they were not able to conclude that search compliance issues were “entirely in the past” due to the limited time period.

“To ensure that the FBI’s progress is not short-lived, we believe the FBI must maintain rigorous internal controls over Section 702 queries, including regular trainings and guidance for FBI personnel engaged in querying or querying oversight,” the report said.

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