Consistent with the efforts of the Obama administration to help people understand what its spying program is all about, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said it filed a petition with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. However, the revelation might not be pleasing to the U.S. population as the spy court has given the government a green light to continue its telephony metadata program.
The request for reauthorization and the granting of permission to go on with phone records gathering was based on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. While the full details were not revealed, the ODNI issued a statement.
"Consistent with his prior declassification decisions and in light of the significant and continuing public interest in the telephony metadata collection program, DNI 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," ODNI Director of Public Affairs Shawn Turner said in a press release.
"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. 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," Turner added.
The ODNI has also cited decisions of the different district courts and the decisions made by judges of the surveillance court in the past that are consistent with the latest ruling.
In December, a district court in New York found the telephone data collection of the National Security Agency to be legal but another judge saw the program as unconstitutional and a possible invasion of privacy. These cases are being appealed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the U.S. Justice Department, respectively.
The ODNI also disclosed that a report by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is due to be finished soon. The recommendations of the said report will also be considered in taking steps to regain confidence of the public in the counterterrorism efforts of the government.
