Court: NSA can continue sweeping phone data collection

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has granted the National Security Agency (NSA) permission to continue its collection of records on all US phone calls.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced the court's approval in a statement. The court authorizes the program for only limited time periods and requires that the government submit new requests every several months for re-authorization. Shawn Turner, a spokesman for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, said the office decided to announce the court decision, which is usually kept secret, "in light of the significant and continuing public interest in the telephony metadata collection program."