US National Security Agency programmes foiled terror plots in 20 nations

The U.S. National Security Agency thwarted potential terrorist plots in the U.S. and more than 20 other countries, top intelligence officials have said.

According to CBS News, last year, less than 300 phone numbers were checked against the database of millions of U.S. phone records gathered daily by the NSA in one of the programmes, the officials said.

The officials said no other new details were given about the plots or the countries involved in the newly declassified information released to Congress, which was made public by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Intelligence officials said they are working to declassify the dozens of plots NSA chief General Keith Alexander said were disrupted.

According to the report, privacy activists have sparked debate and legal action against the Obama administration, saying the data collection goes far beyond what was intended when expanded counterterrorism measures were authorized by Congress after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The officials also told how the phone records programme helped the NSA stop a 2009 al Qaeda plot to blow up New York City subways, the report added.