The US Senate officially passed the "America Freedom Act"

The Obama administration's efforts to overhaul the operations of spy agencies and law enforcement agencies took a major step forward on June 2 after the US Senate voted to pass the "USA Freedom Act".

US President Barack Obama (Source: AFP/VNA.

With this Act, the US will end the bulk collection of citizens' phone data and close the most controversial surveillance program conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

After weeks of intense debate, the “USA Freedom Act” bill was passed by the US Senate with 67 votes in favor and 32 votes against.

The bill passed the final hurdle in the Senate after senators opposed Republicans' efforts to add three amendments to the bill approved by the House of Representatives in mid-last month.

Under the new bill, the NSA's surveillance program would be significantly adjusted. Within six months, US government security and law enforcement agencies would no longer be able to collect large-scale phone data, instead phone service companies would take over the task and authorities would be able to access the data with a warrant from a terrorism court.

Immediately after the vote results were announced, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said that “this is a historic moment, the first major overhaul of surveillance laws in decades.”

However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the bill's passage was "a step backward."

The above result is considered a major political victory for President Obama in the context of his efforts to rectify the operations of the NSA and other security agencies after a series of recent scandals.

Mr. Obama welcomed the US Congress's passing of the "America Freedom Act" to realize reforms aimed at protecting citizens' rights and ensuring national security./.

(According to VNA/VIETNAM+)