WASHINGTON – With the Patriot Act surveillance law about to expire, the Obama administration is unveiling a 6-year-old report examining the once-secret program to collect information on Americans' calls and emails.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence publicly released the redacted report on Saturday. The release follows a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the New York Times.
President George W. Bush authorized the program code-named Stellarwind in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The basics of the National Security Agency program had already been declassified. But the lengthy report includes some new details about the secrecy surrounding it.
The report says the program would have been more useful if it weren't so highly classified, since many FBI agents and CIA analysts were unaware it existed.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
