Gen. Keith Alexander, National Security Agency (NSA) chief pleaded with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, December 11, not to abolish the agency's bulk-collection program saying it's the best way to protect the U.S. from foreign threats, according to a report by the Associated Press.
"How do we connect the dots?" Alexander said, referring to hidden links between a foreign terror threat and a potential attack on the U.S., the report said. "There is no other way that we know of to connect the dots. ... Taking these programs off the table is absolutely not the thing to do."
The agency chief warned that global threats are growing and pose "an unacceptable risk" to U.S. soil.
However, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the committee's chairman, find the NSA's data collection practice troubling. Leahy proposed a bill that would prohibit the NSA from the bulk collection of phone records in the U.S. He said he was concerned that even the Internet records of citizens were vacuumed up before NSA's program ended in 2011. Now, the NSA's program only spy on people who live outside the U.S., who could also be Americans living abroad.
"The American people have been told that all of their phone records are relevant to counterterror investigations," Leahy said. "Now they are told that all Internet metadata is also relevant, and apparently fair game for the NSA to collect. This legal interpretation is extraordinary."
The Senator's proposal has broad bipartisan support, the report said. In the lower house, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis, is pushing for its approval. Sensenbrenner was the chief architect in Congress that gave the government a broad surveillance clout right after the September 11 attacks.
Silicon Valley is also increasing pressure on the White House to curb the surveillance programs. A coalition of eight major Internet companies lashed out on a website and in an open letter printed Monday, December 9, in major newspapers as part of its efforts to limit potential damage that threaten the technology industry's financial livelihood.
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