All three branches of government have a hand in the surveillance measures enacted to protect Americans from terrorism, but the need for secrecy and formidable legal obstacles have blunted challenges about their legal foundation and constitutionality.
This week’s disclosures about government surveillance of phone calls and Internet data led President Obama on Friday to try to reassure the public that programs initiated to keep tabs on foreign terrorism suspects are not compromising Americans’ right to privacy.
Graphic
The Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court
Special Report
Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras
U.S. has access to the servers of nine Internet companies as part of top-secret effort.
Anne Gearan
The National Security Agency, nicknamed such for years, is the U.S. government’s eavesdropper-in-chief.
Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas
"Rather than dismantling Mr. Bush's approach to national security, Mr. Obama has to some extent validated it and put it on a more sustainable footing."
Peter Finn and Ellen Nakashima
President says there are “a whole bunch of safeguards involved” and that Congress authorized programs.
Speaking to members of the press Friday, President Obama sought to assure Americans that the government collects telephone call durations and numbers but not content.
“What you’ve got is two programs that were originally authorized by Congress, have been repeatedly authorized by Congress, bipartisan majorities have approved them, Congress is continually briefed on how these are conducted .
This week’s disclosures about government surveillance of phone calls and Internet data led President Obama on Friday to try to reassure the public that programs initiated to keep tabs on foreign terrorism suspects are not compromising Americans’ right to privacy.
Graphic
The Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court
Special Report
Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras U.S. has access to the servers of nine Internet companies as part of top-secret effort.
Anne Gearan The National Security Agency, nicknamed such for years, is the U.S. government’s eavesdropper-in-chief.
Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas "Rather than dismantling Mr. Bush's approach to national security, Mr. Obama has to some extent validated it and put it on a more sustainable footing."
Peter Finn and Ellen Nakashima President says there are “a whole bunch of safeguards involved” and that Congress authorized programs.
Speaking to members of the press Friday, President Obama sought to assure Americans that the government collects telephone call durations and numbers but not content.- Post Politics: Obama says ‘Nobody is listening to your telephone calls’
- Video: Obama says Congress oversees record collecting programs
- Story: Files show U.S. mining Internet data
“What you’ve got is two programs that were originally authorized by Congress, have been repeatedly authorized by Congress, bipartisan majorities have approved them, Congress is continually briefed on how these are conducted .