The report finds that the NSA improperly collected call record data in November 2017, February 2018 and again in October 2018. The October violation suggests the over-collection problems persisted (or new ones arose) even after the NSA admitted its error, and it might have had something to do with the NSA’s formal recommendation that the White House drop the phone surveillance program. According to the ACLU, the government said the improper collections had a “significant impact on civil liberties and privacy.”

“These documents further confirm that this surveillance program is beyond redemption and a privacy and civil liberties disaster,” said Patrick Toomey, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. The USA Freedom Act, a scaled down version of the Patriot Act, is set to expire in December, and the information revealed by the ACLU will undoubtedly contribute to the debate over whether or not to renew it. Regardless of the outcome, the NSA will likely continue sweeping up Americans’ call record data. The agency doesn’t have a good track record, and in 2018, the NSA conducted nearly 10,000 warrantless search queries of Americans’ calls, texts and emails — records that were swept up with intelligence on foreigners living overseas.