NEW YORK (Reuters) – The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to force the US government to disclose details of its foreign electronic surveillance programme and what protections it provides to Americans whose communications are swept up.
The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in New York, came three days after the ACLU lost a bid to block a separate programme that collects the phone calls of millions of Americans.
The latest lawsuit seeks information related to the use of Executive Order 12333, which was signed in 1981 and governs surveillance of foreign targets.
Under the order, the National Security Administration is collecting “vast quantities” of data globally under the order’s authority, “inevitably” including communications of US citizens, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit cites “recent revelations,” an apparent reference to reports about US spying activities in the wake of leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
“This FOIA request seeks, in part, to determine what protections are afforded to those US persons and whether those protections are consistent with the Constitution,” it said.
A representative for the Justice Department, which will defend the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit follows a series of requests to US agencies for the information under the Freedom of Information Act, which it said have not resulted in substantive responses.
Alex Abdo, an ACLU staff attorney, said in a blog post that the government was using the order as a way to spy on the international communication of US citizens.
