|
 The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, came three
days after the ACLU lost a bid to block a separate program that
collects the phone calls of millions of Americans.
The latest lawsuit seeks information related to the use of Executive
Order 12333, which was signed in 1981 and governs surveillance of
foreign targets.
Under the order, the National Security Administration is collecting
"vast quantities" of data globally under the order's authority,
"inevitably" including communications of U.S. citizens, the lawsuit
said.
The lawsuit cites "recent revelations," an apparent reference to
reports about U.S. spying activities in the wake of leaks by former
NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
"This FOIA request seeks, in part, to determine what protections are
afforded to those U.S. persons and whether those protections are
consistent with the Constitution," it said.
A Justice Department spokesman said the government would respond to
the lawsuit in court.
The lawsuit follows a series of requests to U.S. agencies for the
information under the Freedom of Information Act that it said have
not resulted in substantive responses.
Alex Abdo, an ACLU staff attorney, said in a blog post that the
government was using the order as a way to spy on U.S. citizens'
international communications. "The core of the problem is that the
NSA has, for years, relied upon its authority to gather foreign
intelligence as permission to conduct sweeping surveillance of
Americans' international communications," Abdo wrote.
[to top of second column] |
The lawsuit cites news reports indicating that under the order, the
NSA is collecting data on cell phone locations and email contact
lists, as well as information from Google Inc and Yahoo Inc user
accounts.
Among the records sought by the ACLU are any construing or
interpreting the scope of agencies' authority under the executive
order.
It also seeks records describing minimization procedures used by the
agencies related to intelligence collection and interpretation
pursuant to the order.
The lawsuit names as defendants the NSA, Central Intelligence
Agency, Defense Department, Justice Department and State Department.
The case is American Civil Liberties Union et al v. National
Security Agency et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New
York, No. 13-9198.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond; additional reporting by Mark Hosenball
in Washington; editing by Leslie Adler and Ken Wills)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
