By KIMBERLY DOZIER
Senate Intelligence Committee ChairmaSen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., second from left, talks with from left, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013, before the start of the committee’s hearing on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and National Security Agency (NSA) call records. Lawmakers who oversee US intelligence agencies are working to expand the government’s spying powers to allow the FBI to immediately begin electronically monitoring terror suspects who travel to the United States and who already were under surveillance overseas by the NSA. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein says the Senate Intelligence Committee is drafting legislation to limit the National Security Agency’s access to U.S. phone and email data in an effort to win back public trust following disclosures about widespread domestic surveillance.
The California Democrat and the committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, say their proposal would limit the NSA’s access to phone records and the length of time the records are kept, and prohibit collecting a call’s content.
NSA would have to report every time it uses the database and the number of leads it generates to additional surveillance or an FBI investigation.
The NSA director would also be subject to Senate confirmation.
The systems have been under scrutiny since a former NSA analyst disclosed details about classified surveillance programs
