Senators differ on value of phone records program

FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2009 file photo, Najibullah Zazi arrives at the federal building for questioning by the FBI in Denver. As the Obama administration defended its widespread collection of phone records, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Friday that the program helped disrupt a 2009 plot to bomb the New York City subways. Zazi, an Afghan-American, pleaded guilty in the 2009 plot, saying he had been recruited by al-Qaida in Pakistan. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2009 file photo, Najibullah Zazi arrives at the federal building for questioning by the FBI in Denver. As the Obama administration defended its widespread collection of phone records, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Friday that the program helped disrupt a 2009 plot to bomb the New York City subways. Zazi, an Afghan-American, pleaded guilty in the 2009 plot, saying he had been recruited by al-Qaida in Pakistan. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are divided about whether there's evidence that the government's phone records collection program has kept the United States safe.

It was disclosed last week that the National Security Agency has been gathering the records of hundreds of millions of U.S. phone customers.

Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado says he's not "convinced that the collection of this vast trove of data has led to disruption of plots" against the U.S.

He also says he expects "the government to protect my privacy and it feels like that isn't what's been happening."

But the committee chairman, Democratic Dianne Feinstein of California, contends the program helped disrupt a 2009 plot to bomb New York City's subways and played a role in the case against an American who scouted targets in Mumbai, India, before a deadly terrorist attack there in 2008.

Udall was on CNN's "State of the Union." Feinstein spoke on ABC's "This Week."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-09-NSA%20Phone%20Records/id-d084184cf5d5400082d5de2e6696524f

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