(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- The National Security Agency lost its authority at midnight to
collect Americans' phone records in bulk, after GOP Sen. Rand Paul stood
in the way of extending the fiercely contested program in an
extraordinary Sunday Senate session.
But that
program and several other post-Sept. 11 counter-terror measures look
likely to be revived in a matter of days. With no other options, Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in an about-face, reluctantly embraced a
House-passed bill that would extend the anti-terror provisions, while
also remaking the bulk phone collections program.
Although
the lapse in the programs may be brief, intelligence officials warned
that it could jeopardize Americans' safety and amount to a win for
extremists. But civil liberties groups applauded as Paul, who is running
for president, forced the expiration of the once-secret program made
public by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which critics say is an
unconstitutional intrusion into Americans' privacy.
The
Senate voted 77-17 to move ahead on the House-passed bill, the USA
Freedom Act, which only last weekend fell three votes short of the 60
needed to advance in the Senate. For McConnell, it was a remarkable
retreat after objecting ferociously that the House bill would make the
bulk phone collections program dangerously unwieldy by requiring the
government to search records maintained by phone companies.
"It's
not ideal but, along with votes on some modest amendments that attempt
to ensure the program can actually work as promised, it's now the only
realistic way forward," McConnell said.
The
White House backs the House bill. White House Press Secretary Josh
Earnest said in a statement: "The Senate took an important - if late -
step forward tonight. We call on the Senate to ensure this
irresponsible lapse in authorities is as short-lived as possible. On a
matter as critical as our national security, individual senators must
put aside their partisan motivations and act swiftly."
But
the Senate adjourned without final action on the bill after Paul
asserted his prerogative under Senate rules to delay a final vote for a
couple of days. And a couple of hours later, the midnight deadline came
and went.
"This is what we fought the
revolution over, are we going to so blithely give up our freedom? ...
I'm not going to take it anymore," Paul declared on the Senate floor
hours earlier, as supporters wearing red "Stand With Rand" T-shirts
packed the spectator gallery.
Paul's moves
greatly complicated matters for fellow Kentuckian McConnell, who has
endorsed him for president, and infuriated fellow Republicans. They
exited the Senate chamber en masse when Paul stood up to speak following
the procedural vote on the House bill.
Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., complained to reporters that Paul places "a higher
priority on his fundraising and his ambitions than on the security of
the nation."
Paul, for his part, asserted
that, "People here in town think I'm making a huge mistake. Some of them
I think secretly want there to be an attack on the United States so
they can blame it on me."
In addition to the
bulk phone collections provision, two lesser-known Patriot Act
provisions also lapsed at midnight: one, so far unused, helps track
"lone wolf" terrorism suspects unconnected to a foreign power; the
second allows the government to eavesdrop on suspects who continually
discard their cellphones. McConnell tried Sunday to extend just those
provisions for two weeks, but Paul objected.
The
House bill extends those two provisions unchanged, while remaking the
bulk collection program so that the NSA would stop collecting the phone
records after a six month transition period, but would be authorized
under court order to search records held by phone companies.
The
FBI's use of the Patriot Act to collect hotel, travel, credit card,
banking and other business records in national security investigations
would also be extended under the House bill. Law enforcement officials
say the collection of those business records is more valuable than the
better-known bulk phone collections program. Ongoing investigations
would be permitted to continue even though authority for the programs
has lapsed.
Rebooting the phone collections program would take about a day.
CIA
Director John Brennan was among those warning that letting the
authorities lapse, even for a time, will make America less safe.
"Terrorist
elements ... are looking for the seams to operate within," Brennan said
on CBS' "Face the Nation." `'This is something that we can't afford to
do right now." He bemoaned "too much political grandstanding and
crusading for ideological causes that have skewed the debate on this
issue" and said the terrorism-fighting tools are important to American
lives.
For Paul, the issue represents a potent
political opportunity, and his presidential campaign has been sending
out numerous fundraising appeals focused on it. A super PAC supporting
him even produced an over-the-top video casting the dispute as a
professional wrestling-style "Brawl for Liberty" between Paul and
President Barack Obama - even though Paul's main opponent on the issue
is McConnell.
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