Court renews secret U.S. surveillance program

A top-secret court has renewed the authority of U.S. national security officials to collect telephone data as part of an anti-terror surveillance program that was exposed by intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, CNN reported. 

In an unprecedented disclosure, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said it had decided to declassify and announce the program renewal, which occurs periodically but is never publicized.

Snowden leaked classified information about the National Security Agency program to media outlets last month and then fled the country. He has been charged with espionage and remains in diplomatic limbo at the Moscow airport after seeking temporary asylum.

His detailing of the surveillance effort that required communications giant Verizon to turn over caller information triggered outrage from civil libertarians, certain members of Congress and privacy groups concerned with the sweeping nature of the telephone snooping and a companion effort that monitors e-mails.

Officials have said metadata on overseas-related communications does not include content but provides information about numbers dialed and received as well as length, date and time of calls.

President Barack Obama says the government is not listening in on calls, and other officials have said the massive collection program has helped to detect terror plots.