The White House has yet to comment on a published report that the National Security Agency conducted broader surveillance of e-mails and telephone conversations without court orders than the administration has acknowledged.
Current and former government officials told The New York Times the NSA accessed domestic and international communications with help from telecommunication companies. The newspaper says the companies have been storing information on calling patterns since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
NSA officials were reported to have been studying the information in hope of finding terrorists.
The Bush administration has been under increased scrutiny from the public and many lawmakers for authorizing without court orders the surveillance of what the government says are only international calls and e-mails to and from the United States.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, and Reuters.