Possible Changes to Telephone Program

The Obama administration is preparing to unveil a legislative proposal to drastically overhaul the National Security Agency’s (NSA) once-secret phone records program. Under the proposal, data about Americans’ calling habits would be kept in the hands of phone companies, which would not be required to retain the data for any longer than they normally would. If approved by Congress, the changes would end the most controversial part of the bulk phone records program, a major focus of privacy concerns inside the United States. President Barack Obama said he wanted to get the NSA out of the business of collecting call records in bulk while preserving the program’s capabilities. He instructed Justice Department and intelligence officials to come up with a plan by Friday. Based on the plan, the government would no longer collect and store records of calling data. Instead, it would obtain individual orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain only records linked to phone numbers a judge agrees are likely tied to terrorism. The NSA currently uses the old system— sometimes known as the 215 program, after Section 215 of the Patriot Act — to analyze links between callers in an effort to identify hidden terrorist associates, if they exist. It was part of the secret surveillance program that President George W. Bush put in place after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In Other News With six bodies found Monday, the toll from Saturday's landslide disaster grew to 14 dead. The number of people unaccounted for ballooned from 18 on Sunday to 176 by the end of yesterday. Two men, a sailor and a civilian, died after a shooting at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia late Monday night. The shooting occurred on the destroyer USS Mahan. No other injuries were reported. Authorities did not release details about the shooting. But a spokesman said the civilian suspect was shot and killed by Navy Security Forces. President Barack Obama and other world leaders have decided to end Russia's role in the G8 (a group of leading industrialized nations). The move to suspend Russia's membership in the G8 is the latest direct response from major countries allied against Russia's annexation of Crimea. Expect to see further steps to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin such as sanctions on energy, banking and defense sectors -- all areas where Europe is deeply engaged economically with Russia. Four New York-area men were arrested Monday after a base jumping stunt from atop One World Trade Center in September. The group climbed the nation's tallest building on September 30 and parachuted more than 1,300 feet off the skyscraper. The men snuck into the area through a hole in a fence. A search of the men's homes last month produced video footage of the jump. One World Trade Center is rising in the shadows of the original World Trade Center, where the iconic twin towers were felled by two hijacked airplanes on September 11, 2001, in the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Former teen idol David Cassidy was ordered to enter alcohol rehab for three months after pleading no contest to a drunken driving charge in Los Angeles on Monday. Cassidy, 63, must also serve five years' probation, pay fines and take part in a nine- month alcohol education program. He is nest known for his role on the hit TV show, "Partridge Family.“