CDT Statement on Newly Declassified Documents Related to NSA Surveillance Program

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence yesterday posted previously classified documents about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance program and rulings by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on it. The Center for Democracy & Technology issued the following statement in response:

“The newly declassified documents from the office of the Director of National Intelligence make clear that the NSA is either unable or unwilling to abide by legal restrictions and properly consider the privacy interests of Americans. The documents prove false the NSA’s assurance that phone call records collected in bulk would be queried only when a standard was met,” said Greg Nojeim, Director of CDT’s Project on Freedom, Security and Technology. “Equally disturbing is the NSA’s own statement that ‘there was no single person who had a complete technical understanding’ of the program. The solution to this problem is for Congress to end the bulk collection of telephone call records,” he added.