The National Security Agency can’t “be fairly characterized”...

The National Security Agency can’t “be fairly characterized” as spying on members of Congress, Director Keith Alexander told Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in a letter the senator released Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1dpPqtu). Sanders had asked if the NSA was collecting bulk phone metadata or reviewing email information of Congress members. Alexander stressed the oversight and protections built into U.S. surveillance practices. The bulk phone metadata collection program is lawful, Alexander said. “But the director’s letter and a separate statement that the NSA issued to reporters did not rule out that records swept up by the NSA may include data on elected officials -- information that Sanders said could be abused,” Sanders’ office said in a news release when releasing the NSA response (http://1.usa.gov/19sYAG6).