The U.S. government is defending the practice of collecting massive amounts of information about telephone calls, following a newspaper report the National Security Agency is gathering the records of millions of Americans.

Speaking on condition of not being named, a senior administration official says the practice is a “critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats.”

The official said the practice allows “counterterrorism personnel to discover whether known or suspected terrorists” have had contact with people who may be engaged in terrorist activities.

The British newspaper The Guardian on Thursday published a secret court order issued in April that approved the NSA record-collecting.

The order appears to require a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Verizon phone company to turn over “on a daily basis” all call logs, from within the United States and to other countries. The order does not appear to require information on the content of calls.

The practice is drawing criticism from civil liberty groups that have objected to the broad surveillance powers granted under U.S. laws.

American Civil Liberties Union deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer said “the program could hardly be more alarming.” He said “innocent people” had been put under constant government surveillance.

Representatives of Verizon have not commented about the record collecting.

Media reports say the court order falls under section 215 of the controversial U.S. domestic surveillance law, the Patriot Act. Section 215 made it easier for “business records” to be acquired by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The Patriot Act became law soon after the September 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks against the United States, to enhance the powers of law enforcement agencies to track terrorism suspects.

In 2011, President Obama signed into law a four-year extension of key provisions of the Patriot Act, including those allowing authorities to use roving wiretaps (electronic eavesdropping), conduct court-ordered searches of business records, and conduct surveillance of foreign nationals who may be acting alone in plotting attacks.

The Obama administration has been under fire recently after revelations the U.S. Justice Department secretly obtained phone records from the Associated Press news agency in connection with a leak investigation.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore reacted on his Twitter account saying, “In digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous.”

Source: VOA