NSA Director Lobbies House on Eve of Critical Vote

The Obama Administration scrambled to slow Congressional opposition to the National Security Agency’s domestic spying operations as the House of Representatives prepared to vote on legislation that would block the agency’s collection of records about every phone call dialed or received inside the United States.

Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the NSA director, met with Democrats and Republicans to lobby against a Republican-sponsored amendment to a military appropriations bill that would stop the financing for its phone data collection program. The White House issued a statement praising the idea of a debate about surveillance but denouncing “the current effort in the House to hastily dismantle” the call tracking program, urging lawmakers to vote down the legislation and instead conduct a “reasoned review of what tools can best secure the nation.” “This blunt approach is not the product of an informed, open, or deliberative process,” the White House statement said.