Executive Order 12333

Human Rights Watch is calling for a congressional inquiry into an executive order aimed at the warrantless monitoring of U.S. citizens and permanent residents after obtaining new documents that raise serious and troubling concerns about the extent of such surveillance.
The human rights group used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain training materials used by the Defense Department to implement Executive Order 12333’s guidance, in which agencies are directed to monitor potential “homegrown violent extremists.”

The business records provision of the Patriot Act, known as Section 215, is scheduled to expire on June 1st. It’s the legal basis for the NSA’s collection of telephone meta-data inside American borders.