The Obama administration has announced it will keep 19 diplomatic outposts in North Africa and the Middle East closed for up to a week due to fears of a possible militant threat. Ramped-up security measures were in place over the weekend at some of the 22 posts shuttered by the concerns. Senator Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said communications had been intercepted that were reminiscent of what was heard before the 9/11 attacks. Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Senator Chambliss credited the National Security Agency’s spy programs with detecting the threat.

Saxby Chambliss: “These programs are controversial. We understand that. They’re very sensitive. But they’re also very important, because they are what lead us to have the — or allow us to have the ability to gather this chatter that I referred to. If we did not have these programs, then we simply wouldn’t be able to listen in on the bad guys. And I will say that it’s the 702 program that has allowed us to pick up on this chatter. That’s the program that allows us to listen overseas, not on domestic soil, but overseas.”