Congress may ban NSA phone data collection

WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy is pushing a bill that would stop the National Security Agency from collecting the phone records of millions of Americans, and he says he has the support of Republicans to pass it this year.

The Vermont Democrat says he can win approval of his USA Freedom Act when Congress returns for a brief session after the election Nov. 4.

The bill, which has the support of groups from the American Civil Liberties Union to the National Rifle Association, would bans NSA bulk collection of phone records while allowing targeted surveillance of suspected terrorists.

The measure is co-sponsored by a rare coalition that spans the political spectrum from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

"We've got a real consensus on this bill, and there's really no sense in waiting any longer," Leahy told USA TODAY Friday. "The American people cherish their privacy and care deeply about national security. This bill protects both."

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who sponsored a different version of the bill passed by the House, said he believes the House would quickly take up and approve the Senate bill if Leahy succeeded. The Obama administration has expressed support for the Senate bill, which has stronger privacy protections than the House version.

If the Freedom Act is not passed, the NSA and other federal law enforcement agencies may soon find themselves without the surveillance tools they need for legitimate investigations of suspected terrorists, Sensenbrenner said. Section 215 of the Patriot Act anti-terrorism law, which authorizes the phone surveillance, is set to expire June 15.

"Given the blatant misuse of the law, it is highly doubtful the House will reauthorize it absent important privacy protections, enhanced oversight and other reforms included in the Freedom Act," the congressman said.

The NSA has used Section 215 as the basis to collect millions of records from U.S. phone companies showing the date and time of a call, how long it lasted and the telephone numbers of the people who made or received the call. The data, which are saved for up to five years, do not include the actual conversations. The records are collected about Americans who are not suspected of any crime.

Beyond that controversial program, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies use Section 215 to obtain business records, drivers's license records, credit card records and other documents in investigations of suspected terrorists.

Despite public support for the Freedom Act by Attorney General Eric Holder and National Intelligence Director James Clapper, the Obama administration has continued to extend its mass surveillance of Americans' phone records.

Last month, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved a request by the Justice Department to allow the NSA to keep the program in place for 90 days, through Dec. 5.

The Justice Department would not say whether it would seek another extension in December. The surveillance became public in 2013 when NSA records were leaked by Edward Snowden, who found out about the program as a contractor with the agency.

"This bill would really be a meaningful step forward," said Neema Singh Guliani of the American Civil Liberties Union. "It would protect the information of millions of people."

The legislation would require the government to disclose the number of people whose data have been collected and report how many of them were likely American citizens. The bill would create a panel of special advocates to speak up for privacy and civil liberties in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court when law enforcement officials seek permission to spy.

"It is very important to have an adversary in the court when the court is making decisions about who can be spied upon and what information can be collected," said Mark Jaycox, legislative analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group that works to protect privacy rights.

Adding to the pressure on Congress to act is a growing outcry from U.S. tech companies who say government snooping hurts their business. Overseas customers are especially reluctant to use American phone or Internet providers for fear those companies will be forced to turn over private information to the U.S. government, tech companies say.

"The USA Freedom Act will send a clear signal to the international community and to the American people that government surveillance programs are narrowly tailored, transparent and subject to oversight," the Information Technology Industry Council and other tech coalitions wrote in a recent letter to Senate leaders.

To highlight the economic harm government spying has done to U.S. tech companies, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., will hold a roundtable discussion of the issue in Silicon Valley on Wednesday with executives of Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Dropbox.

"If a foreign enemy had done the damage to these cutting-edge companies that the NSA overreach has done, you'd have people up in arms all over the country," Wyden said.