Senator Mark Udall News

FBI Director Robert Mueller made headlines by admitting that the federal government has used drones to surveil residents of the United States.

The FBI uses drones for surveillance of stationary subjects, and the privacy implications of such operations are "worthy of debate," FBI Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday.

While Congress struggles to find common ground on our nation's deficit, there's a bipartisan delegation of senators from five states working on one common-sense budget savings proposal: eliminating the dollar bill in favor of the dollar coin and saving taxpayers $4.5 billion without raising taxes or cutting a single program.

President Barack Obama's public standing has remained relatively steady over the last month, according to a Pew Research poll released Wednesday , although most Americans disapprove of how he handles privacy and civil liberties issues.

Robert Siegel talks to Sen. Mark Udall about the legislation he is co-sponsoring with Sen. Ron Wyden, to limit the federal government's ability to collect data on Americans without links to terrorism or espionage.

A combination of government austerity and the ballooning cost of battling the ruinous fires has taken a bite out of federal efforts to remove the dead trees and flammable underbrush that clog Western forests.

Bonnie Kruse reacts as she views her family's property that was in the path of the Black Forest Fire, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

As the West battles one catastrophic wildfire after another, the federal government is spending less and less on its main program for preventing blazes in the first place.

A federal proposal to turn portions of the San Juan Mountains into a wilderness area is drawing support in the U.S. Senate, while carving out some areas for special treatment.

At a Senate hearing last week, Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, said the NSA's mass collection of Americans' phone records via Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act has "helped prevent...dozens of terrorist events...both here and abroad."

The rhetoric about Eric Snowden's whistle blowing on the NSA's blanket internet surveillance has ripened during these past weeks since Snowden's revelations.

Obama says at least 50 threats have been averted because of phone records and Internet information the agency was able to access.

A program that pumps millions of dollars into the coffers of the governments of Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties faces an uncertain future because of the federal budget situation.

Federal spy agencies would have to demonstrate a connection between Americans and terrorism before gathering data on those Americans' electronic communications, under legislation introduced Tuesday by U.S. Sen Mark Udall, D-Colo.

The Washington Post reported late Tuesday that Google is preparing to challenge a clandestine court's long-standing gag order over publishing the number of data requests the National Security Agency makes to collect emails, photos and other files people send over the Internet.

Director of the National Security Agency U.S. Army General Keith Alexander testifies before a U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on recently disclosed NSA surveillance programs, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington June 18, 2013.

Congress has approved a plan that would bar the U.S. Army from expanding into the prairielands of Pinon Canyon, along with a backup plan that would require the Army to complete an environmental impact study and receive federal money if the project ever goes forward.

The Republican head of a congressional panel on Tuesday said officials are concerned that former U.S. contractor Edward Snowden's continued efforts to speak out and release intelligence information pose more risk for the United States.

Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald declared on Monday that some U.S. officials were partaking in "a fear mongering campaign" in their extreme criticisms of Edward Snowden's National Security Agency leak.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he's no fan of President Obama but wishes the government had the NSA's database phone and internet records 12 years ago: "We might have been able to prevent 9/11," said Former Vice President Dick Cheney.