The White House and National Security Agency are defending their actions to monitor the phone calls of millions of Americans that subscribe to Verizon Corporation's telecommunication services, including Verizon Business Network Services, Inc.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, charwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and other Washington lawmakers told reporters they did not have an issue with the probe because it was made under the premise that the information obtained would be used to defend the United States and its people.
"It's called protecting America," Feinstein said. "That's why this is carefully done."
A senior White House official spoke to CBS News and did not deny the allegations in the article, but did say that the government has been using tools and data such as the type in turned over by Verizon to continue to uncover terrorists in America.
"Information of the sort described in the Guardian article has been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States," the official said. "It allows counter terrorism personnel to discover whether known or suspected terrorists have been in contact with other persons who may be engaged in terrorist activities, particularly people located inside the United States."
He added, "Congress passed [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] and is regularly and fully briefed on how it is used, and [FISA] authorizes such collection... Activities authorized under the Act are subject to strict controls and procedures under oversight of the Department of Justice, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the FISA Court, to ensure that they comply with the Constitution and laws of the United States and appropriately protect privacy and civil liberties."
The Guardian first broke the story on Wednesday when it obtained a document from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) in Washington, D.C., reporting that FISA "granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending July 19."
Under the conditions of the order, allegedly protected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a myriad of data was handed over including, location information, call duration, and other "unique identifiers."
As of Thursday, it's unclear whether other telecommunications organizations have turned over any consumer records to Washington.
