Ultra Secret Program News Today

Editorial board. tom, walk us through this surveillance program. how does it work? >> were talking about billions and billions of phone calls all across this country. lets narrow it down to one neighborhood. imagine all of those calls taking place just here. and imagine you have a computer thats tracking every time a call it made, when its received, and how long it lasted. that is megadate. you dont know what was said, you just know that contact was made. thats the corner stone of this program a...

On everything youve seen? this is all legal the way the obama administration is engaged in this? >> just because, you know, the court approved it -- >> but theyre not breaking the law? >> they are. >> how are they doing that? >> because that authorizes only foreign surveillance, or clandestine agencies. that had been the first commandment at nsa is you were always able to spy on foreigners, but not domestic. >> is the obama administration with the congressional backing, as congress has known abo...

Obviously the obama administration would be court authorization for some massive surveillance program like this. >> right. look, wolf, i havent read the thing yet, but yeah, thats right. you would presume this was done under a court authorization, with showing of probable cause. and it would have been briefed to congress. >> congress would be informed of it. the chairs of the intelligence committees, ranking members, the speaker presumably, the senate majority leader, among others. so theres no ...

>> reporter: the controversy stilled over to eric holder whos already in -- >> were just asked, could you ensure to us that no phones inside the capital were monitored. >> with all due respect, i dont think this is an appropriate setting for me to discuss that issue. >> reporter: but the program also has its fierce defenders. >> so you keep up what youre doing. and if youve gone outside the lane, you fix it. president bush started it, president obama is continuing it. we need it from my point of...

Details of its customer calls within the united states and overseas. including, quote, the originating and terminating telephone number and duration of the call, but not the content of the call. the white house defended the program as a critical tool that is subject to strict controls. a good way to catch terrorists. >> its called protecting america. >> reporter: in fact, its already proven effective, argued the chair of the house intelligence committee. >> i can tell you why this program is imp...

Surveillance program thats just been revealed. it was first reported that the national security agency has been collecting the phone records of millions of verizon customers every day. they reportedly show who they call, whos called them and the date and duration of each conversation. but as controversial as the surveillance may be, lawmakers are split right now over whether its appropriate or legal. jim acosta has been working this story for us. jim, what are you picking up. >> reporter: obam...

Of six inches of rainfall in areas that are already wet. >> well check back with you, chad. thanks very much. happening now, millions of americans phone records apparently turned over to the feds every day under secret court order. an nsa whistleblower joins us to discuss whats going on on national security. and privacy. secret personal lounging inside a government warehouse. another outrageous expense on the taxpayers dime, now revealed. michelle obama is opting out of a sensitive trip wi...

Snooping controversy isnt hurting verizons bottom line at all. verizon communication stock was up nearly 3.5% at the closing bell. joining us now to discuss whats going on, a former nsa moiee, and whisz whislower. a program he invented to track u.s. enemies overseas. he said it was twisted after 9/11 to allow domestic spying, and says it violated americans rights. he said he became a political target after that armed federal agents raided his home, held him and his wife at gun point between th...

horror at their capabilities is what drove a career intelligence officer to provide power point slides about prism and supporting the materials to "the washington post" in order to expose what he believes to be a gross intrusion on privacy. they quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type. the officer said. now lets look at the slides here, wolf, that were from the presentation. they were surprising. this is the overview slides. you notice at the bottom the date there, april 2013. v...

>> reporter: but the presidents critics arc that its another issue of him walking away from his own tough talks six years ago. >> this administration acts like its a way to enhance our security. it is not. there are no shortcuts to protecting america. >> now because of the exposure of this program came from the news media, it is likely that there will be some sort of investigation into who leaked that information. but for now the white house is not saying anything more about it, whether any othe...