Here's The Most Surprising Revelation From An Eye-Opening Documentary On NSA Spying

A new PBS documentary called "United States of Secrets" reveals that it was a lawyer for then-Vice President Dick Cheney — not an elected official — who authorized much of the NSA spying that Edward Snowden blew the whistle on.

NPR's "Fresh Air" recently interviewed the movie's director, Michael Kirk, about how the vice president's office came to authorize NSA surveillance of Americans after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

According to Kirk, shortly after the September 11 attacks, the head of the NSA, Air Force General Michael Hayden, visited the Oval Office to meet with the president about an aggressive surveillance program. That surveillance — which became known simply as “The Program” in government circles — would collect internet data and telephone records from Americans, Hayden told Bush.

More