NSA Director Says Programs Key to Stopping Attacks

National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander said that he would work to try to declassify secret court opinions that make possible the agency’s collection of most Americans’ phone records, while also defending the government’s controversial surveillance programs as critical to stopping terrorist plots in recent years.

“We need to bring as many facts as we can out to the American people,” Mr. Alexander told the Senate Appropriations Committee. “We want to tell you what we’re doing….but I don’t want to jeopardize the security of our country or our allies.”

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