US Declassifies Snowden Leaked Documents

The U.S. has declassified secret orders that allowed it to engage in massive surveillance of the phone calls and Internet usage of Americans, information about two clandestine programs that former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden leaked last month.
The government released the orders Wednesday, but blacked out key information, such as the names of the telephone companies it sought the records from.  The release of the documents appeared to be a new
effort by President Barack Obama's administration to support its claim that the data collection is necessary to thwart new terrorist attacks on the country.

One document sent to key congressional leaders in 2011 described the National Security Agency surveillance as "some of the most sensitive foreign intelligence collection programs" being conducted by the government.  It said telephone numbers and e-mail addresses, the times of the calls and messaging and their dates are being collected, but not the content of the calls and Internet messages.

The scope of the surveillance has surprised many Americans and sparked a debate whether it ought to be curtailed.  The House of Representatives narrowly rejected a bid last week to end some of the spying.

But at a hearing on the surveillance Wednesday, the chairman of the Senate's Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, voiced skepticism about the need for the spying.

"The government is already collecting data on millions of innocent Americans on a daily basis, based on a secret legal interpretation of the statute that does not, on its face, intend to authorize this kind of bulk collection. So what's going to be next? When is enough, is enough?" he said