In barely a month, a failed 2015 surveillance law called the USA FREEDOM Act will expire. USA FREEDOM set up a process to let the NSA obtain and query mass amounts of phone data—the phone numbers a surveillance target dialed and received, as well as all those that target was in touch with, and then all those they were in touch with—held by the telecommunications firms.
But in 2018, after collecting over half a trillion such records, all without a warrant, the NSA purged its entire trove of what’s known as “Call Detail Records” after an over-collection so substantial the Fort Meade surveillance giant could not determine which of those records it obtained legally.
"Our adversaries want to undermine our democratic institutions, influence public sentiment and affect government policies. Russia, China, Iran, and other foreign malicious actors all will seek to interfere in the voting process or influence voter perceptions," officials including FBI Director Christopher Wray, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone and DHS's top cybersecurity official Chris Krebs warned in a joint statement.
They pledged that "the U.S. government will defend our democracy and maintain transparency with the American public about our efforts."
