OBAMA MEETS WITH LAWMAKERS ON NSA SURVEILLANCE

◼ The private Oval Office meeting is to discuss concerns about privacy. - AP

◼ Obama Tries to Calm a Handful of Surveillance Critics in Closed-Door Meeting - Bridget Johnson.PjMedia

The Thursday afternoon sit-down in the Oval Office included Senate Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and ranking member Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), as well as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).

Representing administration skeptics and critics of the surveillance programs were Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), and principal Patriot Act author Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.).

The Obama administration called the combination a meeting of “some of the programs’ most prominent critics and defenders.”

◼ 'XKeyscore' sweeps up emails, social media, browsing history - The Guardian

XKeyscore: NSA tool collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
• XKeyscore gives 'widest-reaching' collection of online data
• NSA analysts require no prior authorization for searches
• Sweeps up emails, social media activity and browsing history

A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The NSA boasts in training materials that the program, called XKeyscore, is its "widest-reaching" system for developing intelligence from the internet.

The latest revelations will add to the intense public and congressional debate around the extent of NSA surveillance programs. They come as senior intelligence officials testify to the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday, releasing classified documents in response to the Guardian's earlier stories on bulk collection of phone records and Fisa surveillance court oversight.

The files shed light on one of Snowden's most controversial statements, made in his first video interview published by the Guardian on June 10.

"I, sitting at my desk," said Snowden, could "wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email".

◼ Secret court extends NSA trawl of VERIZON customers' phone records - The Guardian

◼ 'Stingray' system can also eavesdrop on audio of voice calls - arstechnica

◼ NETFLIX ROLLS OUT NEW TOOL TO PROFILE VIEWERS - AP

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◼ RAND PAUL KEPT OUT OF OBAMA MEET ON SURVEILLANCE... - POLITICO ◼ Via Drudge