DOJ official: Freedom Act may not stop sweeping spying

Even if Congress passes the USA Freedom Act, the National Security Agency might continue to collect records on virtually all US phone calls, according to a top Justice Department official.

"If the USA Freedom Act becomes law, it's going to depend on how the court interprets any number of the provisions that are in it," Deputy Attorney General James Cole said during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would amend the Patriot Act to require that the records be relevant to terrorism and that they pertain to an agent of a foreign power or a person in contact with an agent of a foreign power.