U.S. releases three declassified documents

PanARMENIAN.Net - As Congress increasingly scrutinizes U.S. surveillance programs, the government on Wednesday, July 31, released declassified documents on the mass collection of telephone data in a rare glimpse into the world of intelligence gathering, Reuters reported.

The U.S. Director of National Intelligence released three declassified documents that authorized and explained the bulk collection of phone data, one of the secret surveillance programs revealed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

The declassification was made in the "interest of increased transparency," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement.

Much of what is contained in the documents has already been divulged in public hearings by intelligence officials as they sought to detail what was initially disclosed by Snowden.

Snowden's release of the surveillance information to American and European media sparked an uproar in the United States and abroad over revelations that U.S. intelligence agencies collected data on phone calls and other communications of Americans and foreign citizens as a tool to fight terrorism.

Intelligence officials have said the programs helped thwart terrorist attacks, but lawmakers have called for greater oversight of the vast surveillance system, which expanded rapidly after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

The documents released on Wednesday include 2009 and 2011 reports on the National Security Agency's "Bulk Collection Program," carried out under the U.S. Patriot Act.

In addition, they include an April 2013 order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which directed communications company Verizon to hand over data from millions of Americans' telephone calls and described how that data should be stored and accessed.

The declassified reports were initially sent to congressional committees and included warning notes saying the information contained in them describes "some of the most sensitive foreign intelligence collection programs conducted by the United States government."