The Obama administration on Saturday unveiled a 6-year-old report examining a once-secret program to collect information on Americans’ calls and e-mails, as debate gears up over the coming expiration of a Bush-era surveillance law.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the redacted report following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the New York Times. The basics of the National Security Agency program had already been declassified, but the lengthy report includes some new details.
President George W. Bush authorized the “President’s Surveillance Program” as part of the Patriot Act in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The review was completed in July 2009. It found that while many senior intelligence officials believe the program filled a gap by increasing access to international communications, others including FBI agents, CIA analysts and managers “had difficulty evaluating the precise contribution of the PSP to counterterrorism efforts.” Continue>>>
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