Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden on Friday spearheaded an effort joined by 25 of his colleagues asking the the country's top intelligence official to publicly describe how the mass collection of phone and internet records has thwarted terrorist attacks.



Wyden, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has stepped up his criticism of the National Security Agency's surveillance programs following the leaks by agency contractor Edward Snowden detailing how it is swept up data associated with data associated with widespread phone and internet traffic.



Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington earlier this month.

From a Wyden press release:

about statements from NSA director Keith Alexander that the data collection programs have thwarted "dozens of terrorist attacks." Wyden said earlier this month that the public examples cited by Alexander "appear to have been identified using other collection methods."

After Wyden and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., raised questions about Alexander's claims, the National Security Agency

that it acknowledged could have "more precisely described" its program.

In the new letter, directed to James Clapper, director of national intelligence, the

about the extent of the program and examples of when it "proved useful" in stopping terrorist attacks.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Washington's two Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, also signed the letter.

From the press release:

How long has the NSA used PATRIOT Act authorities to engage in bulk collection of Americans’ records? Was this collection underway when the law was reauthorized in 2006?

Has the NSA used USA PATRIOT Act authorities to conduct bulk collection of any other types of records pertaining to Americans, beyond phone records?

Has the NSA collected or made any plans to collect Americans’ cell-site location data in bulk?

Have there been any violations of the court orders permitting this bulk collection, or of the rules governing access to these records? If so, please describe these violations.

Please identify any specific examples of instances in which intelligence gained by reviewing phone records obtained through Section 215 bulk collection proved useful in thwarting a particular terrorist plot.

Please provide specific examples of instances in which useful intelligence was gained by reviewing phone records that could not have been obtained without the bulk collection authority, if such examples exist.

Please describe the employment status of all persons with conceivable access to this data, including IT professionals, and detail whether they are federal employees, civilian or military, or contractors.

--Jeff Mapes