the government is watching you, watching who you call, watching who calls you back. according to british newspaper the guardian, the national security agency here in the u.s. obtained a secret court order forcing the company verizon to turn over the cell phone records of millions of us americans. a lot of people are pretty outraged over there. the director of the center on national security at fordham university law school is concerned about it. container greenberg joins frus washington. thanks for being with us. i get it. i get there is national security. i get there is a fisa court and i get the government has to go to that fisa court sometimes secretly to get a warrant, on what potential bad guys might be doing. doesn t it have to be pretty darn narrow and isn t this extraordinary in its scope and breadth? well, it couldn t get any broader in its scope and breadth from what we have learned in the past 24 hours.
according to british newspaper, the guardian, our national security agency obtained a secret court order forcing verdes, the company, verizon, to turn over the telephone records of millions of americans, millions, not just afy, not just a few, millions, the white house is having to react to this. our dan lothian jones us now from washington. i can only imagine, there is damage control. make no mistake, this is not the first time this has happened. this is huge to hear this many people, their data is being checked and it all happens in secret. what itself the white house saying? reporter: that s right. and this is the kind of story i think that gets the attention of a lot of people. everyone has a phone. they make calls. they re concerned within they hear a story like this, is the government listening to my conversation? i should point out the administration the o bomb ma administration is not confirming or denying the existence of this order. because this is something that
direction. it took a lot for me to wear this, and, you know, it s just a travesty today. it s pointing day. [ chanting ] reporter: organizers are telling the crowd to fight back in the best way they can. by registering to vote, and making a political voice heard. thelma gutierrez, cnn, phoenix, arizona. president obama says he doesn t like the legislation and commented on the measure yesterday. our deputy political director paul steinhauser joins frus washington. hello and the president has inserted himself into the debate in some way. reporter: hess, hi comments contradictal. some of the blame is right here in washington, d.c. take a listen. our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. and that includes, for example,