U.S. surveillance efforts still in place

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Federal officials say that despite the recent expiration of a key surveillance bill, the U.S. government still has vital surveillance efforts in place.

Mere hours after U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and National Intelligence Director J. Michael McConnell made a point of detailing the lack of available surveillance tactics, the pair issued a statement detailing how the Protect America Act is still is operation, the Los Angeles Times said Sunday.

"We learned last night after sending (the original) letter that … new surveillances under existing directives issued pursuant to the Protect America Act will resume, at least for now," the federal pair's said Saturday.

Yet the political duo did say the delay caused by the bill's expiration this month had been a detriment to overseas intelligence gathering.

"Unfortunately, the delay resulting from this discussion impaired our ability to cover foreign intelligence targets, which resulted in missed intelligence information," the pair said.

The Times said a new version of the Protect America Act is in the works in Washington with the focus of expanding the government's current surveillance abilities in relation to top telecommunications companies.