Obama White House Had Spying Limits Secretly Undone by Court

GOPUSA - The Obama administration quietly got a court to undo U.S. surveillance limits on the use of intercepted phone calls and emails, The Washington Post reported.

The 2011 reversal of a 2008 restriction let the National Security Agency search deliberately for Americans' communications in its massive databases, the Post said, citing newly declassified documents and interviews with government officials.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court also extended the length of time the NSA may legally hold onto intercepted U.S. communications, increasing it to six years from five, a recently released 2011 opinion by court Chief Judge John D. Bates said.

Bates, appointed to the secret court by Chief Justice John Roberts in 2006, is a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, nominated by President George W. Bush in 2001.    More  PTG