The National Security Agency’s warrantless telephone metadata collection will end tomorrow if President Obama declines to reauthorize the program.
The administration must seek approval from the top secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court every 90 days to continue the bulk call record collection. The last court order was issued on Sept. 11.
Since the program was revealed last June by journalists working with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, it has sparked a debate across the country about the government’s surveillance capabilities. A federal judge last December ruled the program was likely unconstitutional, while another federal judge upheld it.
Over the last year, President Obama has quietly asked the FISA court to renew collection authorities, while publicly prodding Congress to reform the program. The White House wants to require telecom companies instead of the government to collect the call records.
In November, Congress failed to pass legislation that would’ve done just that. Following its defeat, a National Security Council spokesman told the Guardian that the White House “had not yet made a decision on another re-up” for collection.
On Thursday, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the sponsor of the bill, the so-called USA Freedom Act, urged the President to “end the NSA’s dragnet collection of Americans’ phone records once and for all by not seeking reauthorization of this program by the FISA Court.”
He added that doing so would be “an important first step” toward comprehensive surveillance reform.
