NSA Bulk Data Collection Could End Soon if Congress Does Nothing

According to U.S. officials, the National Security Agency (NSA) will be forced to stop its mass collection of telephone data in June unless Congress re-authorizes the program.

Not surprisingly, the so-called “do-nothing Congress” hasn’t made much progress in efforts to extend the law past June 1st. A spokeswoman for the Senate Intelligence Committee said they are still working on legislation, while a House of Representatives aide said, according to Reuters: “Any NSA reform bill is unlikely until after a separate measure to enhance information sharing between companies and intelligence agencies.”

Reuters reports that a spokesman for the Obama Administration’s National Security Council said failing to re-authorize the NSA’s bulk data collection program would be a significant blow to the “critical national security tool.”

Legal experts told Reuters that the National Security Council could convince the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to approve the program under different guidelines, but a spokesman said the Obama Administration would not seek to use that loophole.

Re-authorizing NSA data collection could prove a difficult task for the Republican-controlled Congress, especially because, on issues like this one, the party is deeply divided along neoconservative and libertarian ideological lines.

Late last year, the NSA admitted to significant wrongdoings, including having “incorrectly acquired” surveillance data and violating the law over the past 12 years. Earlier this month, Wikipedia brought forth a lawsuit against the NSA for alleged civil liberties violations.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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