A court order that authorized a controversial policy of data collection targeting US phone records was partially declassified by the US government Wednesday as officials faced questions from Congress about the mass gathering of information, dpa reported. The order, issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, set out the rules for the bulk collection of US phone records that, along with US surveillance of international internet traffic, have prompted outrage since they were leaked by former government contractor Edward Snowden. It orders that phone companies provide to the NSA call records on a daily basis, both for calls between the US and abroad and within the United States. Much of the order was redacted, and did not detail a legal basis for the programme or specify what links the government was looking for. The document was released by the director of national intelligence alongside two previously classified reports to Congress on the programme as Deputy Attorney General James Cole, National Security Agency (NSA) Deputy Director John Inglis and other officials appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. -- SPA 20:48 LOCAL TIME 17:48 GMT تغريد
