Obama Admin Seeks Revival of Lapsed NSA Spying Program

[Valin]

National Journal:

The NSA halted its domestic phone surveillance program earlier this week, but the bulk collection is expected to soon be reinstalled, despite passage this week of the USA Freedom Act.

Dustin Volz

June 3 2015

 

June 3, 2015 Just one day after President Obama signed a comprehensive surveillance-reform bill into law, the administration already is seeking the legal means to revive the National Security Agency's bulk collection of U.S. phone records.

 

An administration official confirmed Wednesday the process to renew the program—which lapsed this week after the expiration of parts of the Patriot Act—was underway, and that an application to restart it would soon be supplied to the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

 

"We are taking the appropriate steps to obtain a Court order reauthorizing the program," Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said in a statement. "If such an order is granted, we'll make an appropriate announcement at that time as we have with respect to past renewal applications.

 

The move is expected, as the USA Freedom Act—a comprehensive surveillance-reform bill signed into law on Tuesday after passing the Senate—calls for a six-month transition period under which the NSA will shift away from its bulk collection regime. After the transition, the NSA will instead rely on phone companies to keep call records and provide them to the government on a more targeted, as-needed basis after obtaining approval from the FISA Court.

 

The renewal is intended to be temporary in order to fill the six-month transition gap created under the Freed Act.

 

(Snip)