An independent review board has released a report stating that the National Security Agency phone data collection program is illegal and weak in its stated goal of fighting terrorism.
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight board said in the report, according to CNN, "We have not identified a single instance involving a threat to the United States in which the program made a concrete difference in the outcome of a counterterrorism investigation."
In one case, a the phone records helped identify a terrorist suspect, but authorities were not going to have trouble finding that person anyway, the board said.
Though the privacy board has deemed the NSA program as not legal, the five-member board lack any actual authority to do anything besides report their findings.
In addition to calling the program illegal, the Privacy board found that Section 215 of the Patriot Act "does not provide an adequate legal basis" for the collection of data, reports NBC News. The program also defies the Electronic Communications Privacy Act as phone companies can't be compelled to provide records without a search warrant.
Michigan Republican Rep. Mike Rodgers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, spoke out against the Privacy board, saying they "decided to step well beyond their policy and oversight role and conducted a legal review of a program that has been thoroughly reviewed."
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