Even without the program, the agency could still collect telecommunications data from abroad, which domestic surveillance laws have left largely unregulated. But while overseas-based collection can give some access to Americans’ data, it apparently does not provide the systematic access to purely domestic phone messages. The phone records program traces back to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks when the Bush administration created the secret Stellarwind surveillance program. One component involved the bulk collection of logs of Americans’ domestic phone calls. Starting in 2006, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court began issuing secret orders requiring the companies to participate, based on a novel interpretation of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which said the F.B.I.

Source: New York Times March 05, 2019 01:13 UTC