The Evolution of the NSA's Telephone Metadata Program

When the Patriot Act was passed in late October of 2001, there were 16 provisions that had expiration dates. And today there are no sunsets. The NSA had a facility built into a routing center for all AT&T traffic for a considerable amount of time. But what we finally get to, just before the pandemic began in 2019 or early 2020, is the National Security Agency finally admitting that that particular program, the Section 215 phone metadata program, was useless.