CNN said in its latest report that Judge Reggie Walton of the the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has said on Friday that it will not allow an extension of the storage of classified National Security Agency telephone surveillance data. The data in question could only be kept in storage for five years. Walton reasoned in court that the US government has yet to overcome privacy concerns surrounding the documents.
"The great majority of these individuals have never been the subject of investigations by the FBI to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities. The government seeks to retain these records, not for national security reasons, but because some of them may be relevant in civil litigation in which the destruction of those very same records is being requested. However, the civil plaintiffs potentially interested in preserving the (telecom) metadata have expressed no desire to acquire the records," Walton wrote in his ruling.
CNN said that current court orders on surveillance documents require any telecommunication company and the National Security Agency to purge papers or files containing surveillance data within five years. Walton said that he is not convinced about the necessity of extending the five-year limit considering that the NSA or the US government did not provide any explanation that would support the court's decision to approve the agency's request.
There has been a massive uproar following the revelation of a secret surveillance court order by former government contractor Edward Snowden that indicate the US government's surveillance program on private citizens and entities via telecom giant Verizon and leading Internet companies. In January, President Barack Obama expressed his concerns about the turnover of the data to domestic telecoms or a private third party, CNN added.
"The amended procedures would further infringe on the privacy interests of United States persons whose telephone records were acquired in vast numbers and retained by the government to aid in national security investigations," Walton emphasized in his 12-page order.
