The American Civil Liberties Union has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the federal government for not revealing the exact extent of its alleged collection of Americans' telephone data.
The ACLU has charged the US intelligence agencies, the NSA, the CIA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice and the Department of State for failing to uphold several Freedom of Information Act requests for surveillance-tied documents.
According to The Washington Times, the ACLU has requested the court for the agencies to give up the documents revealing the extent of the alleged programmes.
The ACLU has also sought to know what specific protections the government takes to ensure Americans' civil rights aren't trampled in the name of national security.
This follows the controversial revelations made by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden about the US' mass surveillance operations targeting citizens and world leaders alike.