NSA will destroy nearly 10 years of phone records

NSA
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The National Security Agency will destroy nearly 10 years of phone records collected from millions of Americans, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Monday.

When President Obama signed into law a revised version of the Patriot Act in June following contentious congressional debate, the NSA lost its legal ability to collect the bulk records. Going forward, intelligence agencies must seek targeted records directly from phone companies. Since the amendment became law, White House officials have been discussing whether to keep the existing records going forward.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.