FBI director defends surveillance programs

FBI Director Robert Mueller today defended a pair of controversial US government surveillance programmes, telling Congress that leaking information on them harms national security.
In his last appearance as FBI director before the House Judiciary Committee, Mueller said that terrorists track leaked information "very, very closely" and that because of leaks "we lose our ability to get their communications" and "we are exceptionally vulnerable."
Responding to questions by committee chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Republican, Mueller said the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has approved the surveillance programs and they have been conducted in compliance with U.S. Law and with oversight from Congress.

The revelation that the National Security Agency is collecting millions of US phone records along with digital communications stored by nine major Internet companies has touched off a national debate over whether the Obama administration, in its efforts to thwart terrorism, has overstepped proper bounds by using intrusive surveillance methods.