The NSA has reportedly stopped using its phone program for the past six months, according to a senior Republican congressional aide. (NSA.gov)
The National Security Agency and the Trump administration have not used the phone program exposed by Edward Snowden in the past six months and it's unclear if the program will renew at the end of the year, a senior Republican congressional aide said Saturday.
Luke Murry, a national security adviser for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., made the remarks about the NSA phone program in an interview with The Lawfare Podcast. Murry said the NSA has not used the program in the past six months and the Trump administration might not ask Congress to renew its legal authority, which is set to expire at the end of the year, according to the New York Times.
The once-secret surveillance program had annually collected hundreds of millions of telephone call records, including those of Americans, the Wall Street Journal reported. Snowden, a former NSA contractor, publicly exposed the program in 2013, raising concerns about privacy.
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President George W. Bush had exerted executive power to pursue Al Qaeda conspirators in the weeks after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Times reported.
The NSA said no comment when reached by phone Tuesday morning. The White House has not immediately responded to Fox News' request for comment.
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