…discovered that the NSA was collecting phone and email information, even from innocent American citizens.
Bombshell! In 2009. Oh, and the Obama Justice Department discovered the problem and took steps to correct it during “routine oversight” efforts. Directly from the WSJ server:
A National Security Agency eavesdropping program exceeded legal limits intended to safeguard privacy, and officials have taken steps to bring the intercepts program into compliance, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
The department, in a statement, said problems with the NSA program were uncovered as the Justice Department and National Security Agency were conducting routine oversight of intelligence activities to ensure compliance with laws and court orders.
Attorney General Eric Holder has sought court approval to renew the NSA program after instituting new safeguards.
The House intelligence committee was informed of the compliance issues and is conducting an inquiry, a House congressional official said.
The New York Times on Wednesday reported on its Web site that the program intercepted private email messages and phone calls of Americans. However, intelligence officials have described the program as primarily searching for information based on data about communications, such as email addresses, subject headers and the time a message or phone call was placed.
The Justice Department said officials notified the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of the problems with the NSA program and took “comprehensive steps” to correct the matter.
Yeah, that really happened. But it’s clearly been lost down the memory hole.