WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed legislation reviving and reshaping surveillance laws that expired temporarily Sunday night.
National Security Agency (NSA) data center is seen June 10, 2013 in Bluffdale, Utah. The center, a large data farm that is set to open in the fall of 2013, will be the largest of several interconnected NSA data centers spread throughout the country. The NSA has come under scutiny after two large scale data survalliance programs were leaked to the press. (George Frey/Getty Images)
The White House says Obama signed the bill late Tuesday evening, hours after the Senate gave its final approval.
Obama says in a statement that he's gratified Congress finally approved the bill. He says his administration will move quickly to restore the lapsed surveillance tools.
The law eliminates the National Security Agency's bulk phone-records collection program and replaces it with a more restrictive measure to keep the records in phone companies' hands.
Obama had blamed Congress for needless delays and an "inexcusable lapse" in national security tools. But he also praised some senators and House members for working in bipartisan fashion to come up with a compromise.
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