White House Presses for Deal on Phone Data Bill

Obama Administration officials intensified pressure on Congress to strike a deal before a June 1 deadline over legislation governing the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telephone records, arguing that failing to do so would suspend crucial domestic surveillance authority at a time of mounting terrorism threats.

“What you’re doing, essentially, is you’re playing national security Russian roulette,” one senior administration official said of allowing the powers to lapse. That prospect appears increasingly likely with the measure, the USA Freedom Act, stalled and lawmakers in their home states and districts during a congressional recess. “We’re in uncharted waters,” another senior member of the administration said at a briefing organized by the White House, where three officials spoke with reporters about the consequences of inaction by Congress. “We have not had to confront addressing the terrorist threat without these authorities, and it’s going to be fraught with unnecessary risk.”

Administration officials emphasized that there was more at stake as the nation faces serious threats from the Islamic State and other terrorist groups. The same authority that has been used to collect the bulk telephone data allows national security investigators to obtain court orders for records — from hotels and banks, for instance — that pertain to an individual. Also scheduled to expire on Sunday is the government’s ability to obtain a multiuse order known as a roving wiretap to track a terrorist or spy known to be switching telephones frequently to avoid detection. And the Federal Bureau of Investigation would lose a tool, never before used, to wiretap a so-called lone wolf terrorism suspect, one believed to be linked to terrorist activity but not to any particular group.