While all members of Congress may have been fully briefed about the nature of the NSA’s intelligence collection, not all supported it. Senator Mark Udall (D-CO), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that he did “did everything short of leaking classified information” to prevent the ruling.

On June 6, 2013, The Guardian published a top-secret court document from the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordering that Verizon provide the NSA with records of all metadata and telephony data on a daily basis from April 25, 2013 to July 19, 2013.

Clapper is referring to The Guardian’s publication of this top-secret court order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, mandating that Verizon turn over call records on a daily basis to the National Security Administration (NSA).

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) represents Iowa’s fourth congressional district, known for his highly conservative views. He sits on the House Judiciary Committee and the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee. He has served in Congress since 2002.

With nearly 5 million Twitter followers, more than just the class of 2013 would have known had Colbert seen anything during his speech.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) is a federal court authorized to oversee and approve surveillance warrants against suspected foreign spies in the US. As a “secret court,” FISC records are not available to the public unless classified information is first redacted.

Verizon has nearly 100 million wireless customers as well as 11.7 million residential phone line customers.