NSA domestic spying program to expire tonight: Ex-US counterterrorism official
A former White House counterterrorism official says the NSA’s domestic surveillance program will likely expire on Sunday night.
The Patriot Act, approved by former President George W. Bush, allows the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect any telephone and business records relevant to a counterterrorism investigation.
Key provisions of the law are expiring at midnight Sunday.
"What I think will likely happen tonight is the law will expire," Richard Clarke said on Sunday morning.
"And then later in the week, the USA Freedom Act, which is essentially the same as the PATRIOT Act with the exception of the telephony metadata program, that act will pass and most of the authorities will be restored," he added.
US President Barack Obama has called on Congress to renew legislation which allows the NSA to continue its controversial phone records collection, saying even a temporary lapse in the NSA's authority could affect national security.
“This is a matter of national security,” Obama said on Saturday. “We shouldn’t surrender the tools that help keep us safe. It would be irresponsible. It would be reckless.”
Clarke said it’s unlikely to endanger Americans. "It probably is not as big a deal as the president is making out," he said, adding that the FBI can use other tools, like warrants, in the interim.
"We're likely to be faced with only a few days where the FBI won't have a handful of tools that, frankly, they don't often use," said Clarke, who called on the Obama administration in 2013 to end bulk metadata collection.
Section 215 of the Patriot Act allows the NSA to collect any telephone and business records relevant to a counterterrorism investigation.
The section, which expires at midnight on May 31, was rejected by the Senate on May 23. The vote was 45-54, which fell short of the 60-vote threshold.
Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, disclosed the extent of the agency’s spying activities in June 2013.
He leaked classified intelligence documents showing massive collections of phone records of Americans and foreign nationals as well as political leaders around the world.
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