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A top Senate Democrat defended the government’s phone...

A top Senate Democrat defended the government’s phone surveillance program Friday, while expressing possible receptiveness to its change. “I continue to believe the phone records program authorized by Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act plays an important role in…

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detecting and preventing terrorist attacks against the United States,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in a statement of the much-debated bulk metadata collection program. “Again, this program collects only phone numbers and the duration and times that calls are made -- it does not collect the content, names or locational information of calls.” But Feinstein is “certainly open to changes” if there are alternatives that keep the effectiveness of the current program, she said, saying “the president is looking at alternatives and modifications to the current program” and she awaits recommendations from Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.