Court Revives Defunct NSA Mass Surveillance Program

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has revived the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' phone records, a program that lapsed when sections of the Patriot Act briefly expired. The court approved a government request to renew the dragnet collection of US phone metadata for an additional five months -- a timeframe allowed under the Freedom Act, a newly enacted surveillance reform law that calls for an eventual end to the mass spying program exposed by Edward Snowden two years ago.

The Senate passed the Freedom Act days after allowing the June 1 expiration of the Patriot Act's three spying provisions, including Section 215, which the NSA uses to justify its bulk collection. The court order renews the surveillance until November 29, 2015 -- six months after enactment of the reform law. "This application presents the question whether the recently-enacted USA Freedom Act ... ended the bulk collection of telephone metadata," the order reads. "The short answer is yes. But in doing so, Congress deliberately carved out a 180-day period following the date of enactment in which such collection was specifically authorized. For this reason, the Court approves the application in this case."