Obama team releases more NSA documents

David Jackson | USA TODAY

President Obama plans to meet with members of Congress Thursday on National Security Agency surveillance programs, a day after his administration released more intelligence documents and a Senate committee held hearings on the subject.

Among Obama's scheduled guests: Sens. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., both of whom have criticized the telephone and Internet surveillance programs as overly broad and violations of privacy.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper authorized the release of documents on counter-terrorism programs that involve "the collection of telephone metadata pursuant to Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act," the DNI office said in a statement. " DNI Clapper has determined that the release of these documents is in the public interest."

Clapper acted as a new set of leaks raised more questions about the extent of the National Security Agency efforts.

The Guardian newspaper, relying on documents provided by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, reported that a "top secret" NSA program "allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing e-mails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals."

The offices of Udall and Wyden confirmed Thursday's meeting between Obama and a bipartisan group of U.S. House and Senate members.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama welcomes the debate over the NSA programs, as lawmakers struggle to balance concerns over privacy with the need to use tools that can help prevent terrorists attacks.

Obama has asked intelligence officials to look at the release of more records, in order "to be as open as possible, mindful of the classified nature of these programs," Carney said.

The DNI documents released Wednesday -- which include many redacted sections -- describe in general how the surveillance programs are designed to work and what the restrictions on NSA analysts are. The disclosures also include a previous release court order on the program.

One document says "these programs are authorized to collect in bulk certain dialing, routing, addressing, and signaling information about telephone calls and electronic communications, such as telephone numbers or e-mail addresses."

Analysts review the numbers, addresses, times and dates of the communications, "but not the content of the calls or the e-mail messages themselves," the document says.

The "bulk collection programs provide important tools in the fight against terrorism," the document says, "especially in identifying terrorist plots against the homeland."

Regarding the privacy issues, the document says that intelligence officials take "compliance problems in the programs very seriously, and substantial progress has been made in addressing those problems."

The documents included 2009 and 2011 reports on the bulk collection programs and letters to key congressional chairs about their re-authorization under the PATRIOT Act.

Another document includes an April order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that required a Verizon subsidiary to turn over customers' phone records for a three-month period.

Snowden – accused by U.S. government of illegal disclosures and still in limbo in a Moscow airport as he seeks political asylum – leaked a FISA/Verizon order to the Guardian earlier this year.

The DNI documents say analysts need a FISA court order to review records in detail, and that order must be based on reasonable suspicions of potential terrorist activity. One document says "only a tiny fraction" of these records are ever viewed by NSA intelligence analysts.