The U.S. Senate officially passed the "American Freedom Act".

The Obama administration's efforts to reform the operations of surveillance and law enforcement agencies made significant progress on June 2nd after the US Senate voted to pass the "USA Freedom Act."

US President Barack Obama (Source: AFP/VNA).

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

After weeks of intense debate, the "American Freedom Act" bill was passed by the U.S. Senate with 67 votes in favor and 32 against.

The bill passed its final hurdle in the Senate after senators opposed the Republican effort to add three amendments to the version approved by the House of Representatives in mid-last month.

According to the new bill, the NSA's surveillance program will be significantly modified. Within six months, U.S. government security and law enforcement agencies will no longer be able to collect large-scale telephone data; instead, telephone service companies will handle this, and authorities will only be able to access the data with the permission of a court specializing in counterterrorism.

Immediately after the vote results were announced, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy stated, "This is a historic moment, the first major overhaul of surveillance laws in decades."

However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell argued that passing the bill would be "a step backward."

This result is seen as a major political victory for President Obama as he attempts to reform the NSA and other security agencies following a series of recent scandals.

President Obama welcomed the passage of the "American Freedom Act" by the U.S. Congress, which aims to implement reforms to protect citizens' rights and ensure national security.

(According to VNA/VIETNAM+)