Sen. Rubio: Now's no time to end NSA program

Today our nation faces a greater threat of terrorist attack than any time since Sept. 11, 2001. Because of the dedicated work of U.S. intelligence, military and law enforcement personnel, Americans have been largely kept safe for almost 14 years. A major contributor to this success has been the development and use of counterterrorism tools such as those authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Patriot Act.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the federal government mobilized to defend the country and prevent further loss of innocent life. This included the NSA's collection of bulk telephone metadata.

Bulk metadata includes phone numbers, the time and duration of calls — nothing else. No content of any phone calls is collected. The government is not listening to your phone calls or recording them unless you are a terrorist or talking to a terrorist outside the United States.

Despite recent court rulings, this program has not been found unconstitutional, and the courts have not ordered a halt to the program.

In fact, this program has been found legal and constitutional by at least 15 federal judges serving on the FISA Court on 35 occasions.

There is not a single documented case of abuse of this program. Internet search providers, Internet-based email accounts, credit card companies and membership discount cards used at the grocery store all collect far more personal information on Americans than the bulk metadata program.

FBI Director James Comey warned last week that potentially, thousands of terrorist sympathizers in the United States are being self-radicalized online by foreign terrorists associated with the Islamic State who are urging them to conduct attacks against Americans in our cities and towns.

Given these threats, now is not the time to end this program, which remains essential to our security. Congress has until the end of May to act before the current authorities expire. We must renew these authorities and provide those we charge with protecting us every tool they need to do so.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., serves on the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees.