NSA's surveillance programme divides Republicans

The controversial 'snoop-op' by the US' National Security Agency has left the Capitol Hill Republicans party in a sharp divide of opinion.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, on one hand, has asked for the Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of the NSA surveillance programs while New York Republican Rep. Peter King has argued in favour of the programme.

Paul said that he agreed to the surveillance of spies but opposed the 'bulk gathering of data on all Americans', Fox News reports.

Paul's comments drew sharp criticism from King who said that it was 'just a grab bag if misinformation and distortion coming from Paul and argued that King argued that the newly reported, roughly 2,800 NSA violations were the result of millions if not billions of phone calls tracked and that the vast majority of violations were related to foreigners.

King is a strong supporter of the NSA programs and member of the House Homeland Security Committee and argued no Americans' rights were violated with the NSA programs.

These programmes were revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden who worked as a former NSA contractor, who is now in Russia to escape US extradition.

While the NSA defends its programmes and says that it helped the agency track down and avert many potential terrorist attacks post 9/11, the citizens are increasingly becoming conscious and concerned about their right to privacy.