The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court signed off yet...
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court signed off yet again on the government’s phone surveillance program, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Friday in a news release (http://1.usa.gov/1dhDnug). “Consistent with his prior declassification decisions and in light of…
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the significant and continuing public interest in the telephony metadata collection program, [Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper has decided to declassify and disclose publicly that the government filed an application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court seeking renewal of the authority to collect telephony metadata in bulk, and that the court renewed that authority on January 3, 2014,” a spokesman for the government wrote. The spokesman said the office believes the bulk collection of phone metadata is lawful. “Nevertheless, the Intelligence Community continues to be open to modifications to this program that would provide additional privacy and civil liberty protections while still maintaining its operational benefits,” the spokesman said. “To that end, the Administration is carefully evaluating the recommendation of the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies regarding transitioning the program to one in which the data is held by telecommunications companies or a third party.” The latest FISC order authorizing the program is undergoing declassification review now, the office said.