Congress Executive Branch Intelligence Surveillance & Privacy

A December NSA Mini-Trove

Wells Bennett
Monday, December 23, 2013, 9:00 AM
On Friday, the Director of National Intelligence declassified eight documents related to NSA activities, including the bulk collection of telephony metadata. The documents---all declarations by NSA officials---apparently were filed in support of the government's assertions of state secrets and statutory privileges, in lawsuits filed after public acknowledgement of the Bush Administration's  "Terrorist Surveillance Program." Later on, following Snowden's revelations, federal judges had ins

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On Friday, the Director of National Intelligence declassified eight documents related to NSA activities, including the bulk collection of telephony metadata. The documents---all declarations by NSA officials---apparently were filed in support of the government's assertions of state secrets and statutory privileges, in lawsuits filed after public acknowledgement of the Bush Administration's  "Terrorist Surveillance Program." Later on, following Snowden's revelations, federal judges had instructed the United States to update its past positions---to explain whether, and to what extent, the disclosures altered the  government's prior claims of secrecy. The declarations were made in two cases, Jewel et. al. v. NSA et. al., and Shubert et. al. v. Obama et. al.  

Wells C. Bennett was Managing Editor of Lawfare and a Fellow in National Security Law at the Brookings Institution. Before coming to Brookings, he was an Associate at Arnold & Porter LLP.

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