The secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has approved a request by the National Security Agency to extend its dragnet collection of U.S. phone records. The Office of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper disclosed the court’s approval on Friday. Clapper has previously denied before Congress that the NSA collects such data, but the Obama administration has touted a policy of declassifying select information following leaks by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Snowden continued to criticize the NSA’s spy programs after receiving an award from U.S. whistleblowers last week in Russia.

Edward Snowden: “People all over the world are realizing that these programs don’t make us more safe. They hurt our economy. They hurt our country. They limit our ability to speak and think and to live and be creative, to have relationships, to associate freely.”

Click here to watch our extended discussion with the four former government officials who met with Snowden in Russia last week.