One of the documents released by Edward Snowden back in June was a court order requiring Verizon to turn over phone records of all its domestic calls. On Wednesday, the government will release a bit more:
The Obama administration has declassified a secret order directing Verizon Communications to turn over a vast number of Americans’ phone records, and it plans to disclose the document Wednesday morning in time for a Senate hearing, according to senior U.S. officials.
….The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said the court order released by Snowden was a “secondary” order. They expressed hope that the document being released Wednesday will shed light on how the U.S. government obtains communications records under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the restrictions placed on surveillance programs.
The document we’ll see on Wednesday is the “primary” order underlying the order that Snowden leaked. I’m not sure what that means, or why it would shed any more light on what’s going on, but I guess we’ll find out soon.
