By KIMBERLY DOZIER WASHINGTON — Top U.S. intelligence officials say information gleaned from two controversial data-collection programs run by the National Security Agency thwarted potential terrorist plots in the U.S. and more than 20 other countries. No other new details about the plots or the countries involved are part of newly declassified information released to Congress on Saturday and...
In this Sept. 17, 2009 file photo, Najibullah Zazi arrives at the federal building for questioning by the FBI in Denver. As the Obama administration defended its widespread collection of phone records, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Friday that the program helped disrupt a 2009 plot to bomb the New York City subways. Zazi, an Afghan-American, pleaded guilty in the 2009 plot, saying he had been recruited by al-Qaida in Pakistan. By KIMBERLY DOZIER
WASHINGTON — Top U.S. intelligence officials say information gleaned from two controversial data-collection programs run by the National Security Agency thwarted potential terrorist plots in the U.S. and more than 20 other countries.
No other new details about the plots or the countries involved are part of newly declassified information released to Congress on Saturday and made public by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Intelligence officials say that fewer than 300 phone numbers were checked last year against the database of millions of U.S. phone records gathered daily by the NSA. Under the program, the records can only be examined for suspected connections to terrorism.
Also revealed: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court reviews the two data-collection programs every 90 days, and the data gathered must be destroyed every five years.