Senators Push to Preserve NSA Phone Surveillance

Lawmakers kicked off a debate about whether to drastically curb the National Security Agency's spy programs, setting up an odd legislative battle that pits establishment lawmakers against mavericks in both parties. But the Senate Intelligence Committee appears to be moving toward swift passage of a bill that would “change but preserve” the once-secret NSA program that is keeping logs of every American’s phone calls, Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who leads the panel.

Chairman Feinstein, speaking at a rare public hearing of the committee, said she and the top Republican on the panel, Sen Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)), are drafting a bill that would be marked up — meaning that lawmakers could propose amendments to it before voting it out of committee — as early as next week. Chairman Feinstein said her bill would be aimed at increasing public confidence in the program, which she said she believed was lawful. The measure would require public reports of how often the NSA had used the calling log database, she said. It would also reduce the number of years — currently five — that the domestic calling log data is kept before it is deleted. It would also require the N.S.A. to send lists of the phone numbers it searches, and its rationale for doing so, to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for review.