NSA loses communications surveillance powers as Patriot Act expires

...but new legislation is right on the horizon

The National Security Agency (NSA) and other US intelligence bodies have lost the power to mass collect the communications data of American citizens after the Senate failed to reach a deal to extend legislation on surveillance programmes.

As a result, the legal authority for the NSA to collect and monitor phone data expired when the Patriot Act - passed to allow the government to collect and search phone records after September 11th 2001 - lapsed at midnight on Monday.

The full extent of the US government's surveillance scheme was revealed by whistle-blower Edward Snowden, who detailed how the Patriot Act was secretly being used to bulk collect communications data of millions of Americans without their consent or knowledge.

The lapse occurred despite an extraordinary Sunday night Senate debate which failed to pass legislation on extending US government's powers to monitor data.

The White House has described the expiration of the legislation as an "irresponsible lapse" by the Senate.

"On a matter as critical as our national security, individual senators must put aside their partisan motivations and act swiftly. The American people deserve nothing less," said a White House statement.

The Patriot Act is likely to be replaced with new legislation - the USA Freedom Act - which is designed to prevent the NSA and other intelligence agencies from bulk collecting data of American citizens and provide transparency rules for surveillance activities.

However, the intelligence agencies are still able to continue working with information collected about non-US citizens.

The fact that the Senate was unable to pass new legislation is mostly down to Republican Senator and presidential primary candidate Rand Paul. Paul, a libertarian who believes the government shouldn't be able to collect any data about citizens, argued that the process is illegal and unconstitutional.

"Tonight begins the process of ending bulk collection. The Bill will ultimately pass but we always look for silver linings," said Paul.

"I think the Bill may be replacing one form of bulk collection with another but the government after this Bill passes will no longer collect your phone records," he added.

Other Republicans in the house accused Paul of hijacking the platform in order to further his own Presidential aspirations.

"He obviously has a higher priority for his fundraising and political ambitions than for the security of the nation," said Republican Senator John McCain, the party's Presidential candidate in 2008.

Meanwhile, fellow Republican Mitch McConnell was also critical of Paul and other opponents of the Patriot Act, accusing them of waging "a campaign of demagoguery and disinformation" using the information disclosed by Edward Snowden "who was last seen in Russia", he said, in an apparent effort to paint Snowden as an unpatriotic enemy of the state.

However, others have urged the US authorities to take advantage of the lapse in the Patriot Act to push for full-scale reform of how the intelligence agencies collect data.

"Congress should take advantage of this sunset to pass far-reaching surveillance reform, instead of the weak bill currently under consideration," said Michael Macleod-Ball, acting director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington Legislative Office.

The lapse of the Patriot Act in the US comes shortly after the UK government announced plans to extend surveillence capabilities with the Investigatory Powers Bill.