The Patriot Post® · Moving NSA Deck Chairs

The White House and the House Intelligence Committee will reveal anticipated proposals today to restructure the NSA’s sweeping phone surveillance. Both proposals shift the task of metadata collection from the government to phone companies. In essence, the government would no longer collect or hold the data but it would maintain access to it, while phone companies will be granted liability protection and some measure of reimbursement for expenses. Annual reauthorization would be necessary. As details are hammered out, however, the administration plans to extend the NSA’s court mandate beyond this Friday’s expiration. Nothing of substance seems to be changing, only the method.