The U.S. Declassifies Documents That Outline The Origin Of NSA Surveillance

U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.(Reuters / Jason Reed)

National Intelligence Chief Declassifies Bush-Era Documents On NSA Programs -- The Guardian

• James Clapper documents relate to bulk collection origins
• Disclosure comes in response to federal court order

The director of national intelligence on Saturday declassified more documents that outline how the National Security Agency was first authorised to start collecting bulk phone and internet records in the hunt for al-Qaida terrorists and how a court eventually gained oversight of the program, after the justice department complied with a federal court order to release its previous legal arguments for keeping the programs secret.

James Clapper explained in a statement on Saturday that President George W Bush first authorised the spying in October 2001, as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, just after the 9/11 attacks. Bush disclosed the program in 2005.

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More News On The U.S. Declassifying Documents That Outline The Origin Of NSA Surveillance

U.S. declassifies more docs on origins of NSA surveillance -- CBS/AP
DNI releases more documents to justify NSA surveillance -- USA Today
U.S. Declassifies Some Details of Bush-Era Surveillance -- Wall Street Journal
Clapper reveals Bush-era docs showing NSA spying dragnet started 2001 -- RT
Newly declassified documents released on post-9/11 surveillance -- CNN
New NSA Documents Make Case For Keeping Surveillance Programs Secret -- NPR