White House stands firm on CIA nominee

Lawmakers have been demanding information from the Bush administration about the NSA’s efforts to collect records on millions of Americans’ phone calls. The disclosure, reported in Thursday editions of USA Today newspaper, could complicate Bush’s bid to win Hayden’s confirmation.

Senator Wayne Allard, a Republican, said the NSA was using the data to analyse calling patterns in order to detect and track suspected terrorist activity, according to information provided to him by the White House.

‘‘Telephone customers’ names, addresses and other personal information have not been handed over to National Security Agency as part of this programme,’’ Allard said.

President George Bush on Thursday sought to assure Americans that their civil liberties were ‘‘fiercely protected’’. ‘‘The government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval,’’ said Bush.

‘‘We’re not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans.’’

–KATHERINE SHRADER