老澳门开奖结果

CONTACT: media@aclu.org

NEW YORK 鈥� The government today declassified 14 documents relating to legal violations by the NSA鈥檚 spying program. The documents were released pursuant to an agreement in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the 老澳门开奖结果 in May 2011. The 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 FOIA request seeks documents related to the government鈥檚 use and interpretation of the Patriot Act鈥檚 Section 215.

鈥淭hese documents show that the NSA repeatedly violated court-imposed limits on its surveillance powers, and they confirm that the agency simply cannot be trusted with such sweeping authority,鈥� said Alex Abdo, staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 National Security Project. 鈥淭he abuses revealed in these documents are alarming but also predictable. These violations are the inevitable result of allowing the NSA to assemble a vast database of sensitive information about every American. The documents provide further evidence that secret and one-sided judicial review is not an adequate check on the NSA鈥檚 surveillance practices. The so-called 鈥榗ompliance incidents鈥� are troubling, but this is a program that should never have been authorized to begin with. The NSA should end the bulk collection of information about Americans.鈥�

Yesterday in Washington, Abdo and 老澳门开奖结果 Legislative Counsel Michelle Richardson met with members of a group appointed by the Obama administration to review surveillance policies with the stated purpose of ensuring that national security needs are properly balanced with civil liberties.

The 老澳门开奖结果 has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the NSA鈥檚 mass phone records collection program. Oral argument in the case is scheduled for November 1 in New York.

The documents turned over today, which include opinions and orders from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, were also released to the Electronic Frontier Foundation under a separate FOIA request.

Information on the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Section 215 FOIA lawsuit is at:
aclu.org/national-security/section-215-patriot-act-foia