The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has defended the US government’s espionage program.\n<\/p>\n
At a House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Robert Mueller said that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has approved the program and they have been conducted in compliance with US law and with oversight from Congress.\n<\/p>\n
The FBI chief also said that the former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden is the target of a criminal probe.\n<\/p>\n
“The individual who has admitted making these disclosures … is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation,” Mueller stated.\n<\/p>\n
“These disclosures have caused significant harm to our nation and to our safety. We’re taking all necessary steps to hold the person responsible for these disclosures,” he added\n<\/p>\n
On June 9, Snowden leaked documents exposing the widespread surveillance of US communications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), as well as a separate National Security Agency (NSA) program code-named PRISM that allows the government to access private conversations conducted over Facebook, Google, Skype and other services.\n<\/p>\n
“I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things,\u201d Snowden told The Guardian<\/i> over the weekend. \u00c5\u201cI do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
On June 8, National Intelligence Director James Clapper defended the electronic surveillance tool PRISM and insisted that various intelligence-gathering programs being used by the US government are legal. <\/p>\n
On June 6, the British daily revealed a top secret US court order that allows the NSA to collect data on millions of Americans who are customers of the major US phone company, Verizon.\n<\/p>\n
According to the order, Verizon should \u00c5\u201con a daily basis\u201d submit to the NSA data, including phone numbers, location, and duration of all phone calls in its systems, both in the US and between the US and other countries.\n<\/p>\n
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