NSA must stop collecting information of US citizens from the night of May 31

The decision was made after the US Senate refused to extend the National Security Agency's (NSA) information collection program.

However, CIA Director John Brennan has warned that allowing the end of key surveillance programs could increase terrorist threats.

The US Congress decided to temporarily suspend all NSA activities of collecting information on US citizens (Photo: The Verge)

In a vote in the Senate on the night of May 31, the USA Freedom Act, which aims to limit the NSA's power to collect and store massive amounts of metadata related to US citizens, received only 57 votes in favor, 3 votes short of passing.

However, the Senate also voted overwhelmingly in favor of a measure that would allow lawmakers to begin debating the bill before a vote in midweek, meaning that the NSA's call collection program will be temporarily suspended for the next few days.

In addition, two other programs that allowed eavesdropping on terrorist suspects, changing mobile phone numbers everywhere and tracking terrorist suspects in "lone wolf" attacks were also suspended.

This is the second time the US Senate has considered the Freedom Act after the draft was passed by the House and supported by the White House. The Freedom Act would extend the NSA's current surveillance program for six months while it sets up a new, more targeted collection system. The NSA would also have to seek a court order to access specific calls from the vast troves of data stored by telecommunications companies.

The Freedom Act would replace three key surveillance provisions in the USA Patriot Act, which was signed into law by former Republican President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

Later, when Democratic President Barack Obama took office, he renewed and changed some parts of the Patriot Act, according to which, the NSA was still allowed to collect and search phone calls in the US but not the content of these calls.

A report released by the Obama administration in 2013 concluded that the phone-recording program was not essential to preventing any terrorist attacks.

Security officials counter that the program provides vital data that, when combined with other intelligence, could prevent attacks.

Work to renew or reform the NSA’s current surveillance programs has stalled in the Senate largely because of disagreements within the Republican majority in both houses of Congress. Liberals want to end the programs altogether, while security hawks want to keep them intact and extend them.

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy called for compromise to pass the bill: “The Freedom Act can create a bipartisan compromise that protects Americans’ privacy while also keeping our country safe. It ends the phone collection program. It is a reform that limits government surveillance. It increases transparency and also promotes greater accountability and oversight. Something the Patriot Act did not do.”

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Dan Coats expressed concern that the surveillance program was not renewed at this sensitive time, when the threat from terrorist extremism is clearly increasing.

Central Intelligence Agency Director Brennan warned that groups like the Islamic State (IS) are “very cautiously” monitoring developments in the US and “looking for loopholes to operate.” According to Mr. Brennan, the program to collect calls of millions of Americans not related to terrorism is not an abuse of civil liberties but only aims to protect citizens./.

According to VOV.VN