Secret court to decide on unprecedented request to unseal terrorist surveillance records

August 17, 2007
Secret court to decide on unprecedented request to unseal terrorist surveillance records

WASHINGTON: The government must answer a watchdog group's demands to release records about the United States' classified terrorist spying program, the chief judge of a secretive national security court has ruled.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which announced the order Friday, said it was the first time the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had responded to a request filed by the public.

In her 2-page order, dated Aug. 16, presiding Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly called the ACLU's demand "an unprecedented request that warrants further briefing."