Verizon Phone Records Secretly Collected by Feds: Report

From abc news. The Obama administration hasbeen quietly collecting millions of telephone records from U.S.Verizon customers under a top-secret court order first obtained in late April, according to British newspaper The Guardian. A copy of the classified order,posted Wednesday on the paper's website, reveals that Verizon has been required to provide to the National Security Agency on an"ongoing, daily basis" information on all phone calls made through its systems. The order was granted April 25 by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees secret government requests for private information that might help identify suspected terrorists or foreign nationals in the United States. It expires July 19. READ MORE: Dodd Succeeds in Delaying Wiretapping Bill The order, which was obtained 10 days after the Boston Marathon bombings, did not identify intended targets or the rationale for casting such a wide net. The accuracy of the document could not be independently confirmed by ABC News. Neither the NSA nor Verizon responded to requests for comment, though neither immediately denied the report. A senior Obama administrationofficial also declined to verify the authenticity of the order posted by the Guardian, but defended such data collection as a "critical tool" to protect the country.