Category Archives: NSA

In a separate 2013 document, the agency identified several instances where data was mishandled by unknown personnel. According to the entry, a file with "raw [signal intelligence] was improperly uploaded. Many of the breaches were attributed to lackadaisical data security, or unclear instructions that resulted in U.S. citizens accidentally having their privacy violated by the agency's acts.

In a lengthy preamble, the NSA took pains to state any monitoring of U.S. citizens was the result of "unintentional technical or human error."

The agency added that in those cases where a breach was intentional, "a thorough investigation is completed, the results are reported to the IOB and the Department of Justice as required, and appropriate disciplinary or administrative action is taken."

Still, the disclosures are unlikely to alleviate concerns about civil liberties that have reached a boil since last year, when NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed a sprawling network of classified surveillance activities.

Read MoreSnowden a 'traitor': Andreessen

Snowden's whistleblowing stoked a debate over government intelligence gathering and information privacy.

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NSA Christmas gift: 12 yrs of surveillance data

In a separate 2013 document, the agency identified several instances where data was mishandled by unknown personnel. According to the entry, a file with "raw [signal intelligence] was improperly uploaded. Many of the breaches were attributed to lackadaisical data security, or unclear instructions that resulted in U.S. citizens accidentally having their privacy violated by the agency's acts.

In a lengthy preamble, the NSA took pains to state any monitoring of U.S. citizens was the result of "unintentional technical or human error."

The agency added that in those cases where a breach was intentional, "a thorough investigation is completed, the results are reported to the IOB and the Department of Justice as required, and appropriate disciplinary or administrative action is taken."

Still, the disclosures are unlikely to alleviate concerns about civil liberties that have reached a boil since last year, when NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed a sprawling network of classified surveillance activities.

Read MoreSnowden a 'traitor': Andreessen

Snowden's whistleblowing stoked a debate over government intelligence gathering and information privacy.

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NSA declassifies trove of documents

A few hours before Christmas Eve, the National Security Agency released more than a decades worth of damning reports on its website. The reports, which had been submitted by the NSA to the Presidents Intelligence Oversight Board from 2001 to 2013, purport to cover any activity that could be considered unlawful or contrary to government policy. They included incidents in which individual employees abused their security clearances to target a current or former romantic partner as well as dozens of breaches that resulted from overly broad database queries, along with a lack of rigor in determining whether a foreign intelligence target had entered the United States or held US citizenship or permanent resident status. There were also numerous breaches related to poor data security.

In the documents, which were released in response to a FOIA lawsuit brought by the ACLU, NSA analysts are revealed to be all-too-human bumblers, mistakenly searching on their own information, improperly using colleagues credentials, sending highly classified information to the wrong printer, and mistyping email addresses.

There is no evidence in the reports of systematic lawbreakingnot a surprise considering the reports author. Instead, the NSA attributes most of its lapses to unintentional human error or technical mistakes. In a handful of cases, the agency points out, investigations have led to discipline or administrative action. Even so, the reports raise serious questions about the NSAs ability to protect the vast amount of personal data that is vacuumed up by its surveillance apparatus.

Courtesy: Cory Grenier

I became interested in the NSA spying program almost a decade ago when I learned about a large order AT&T had placed for Narus Semantic Traffic Analyzers. The equipment made it possible to inspect Internet traffic in real time, which made it a great tool for spying. A source had told me that the analyzers had been deployed in secret rooms around the country on behalf of the NSA. I looked into the story, but ultimately my editors chose not to pursue it. Even if I could prove it, they werent sure anyone would be interested in the specific details of how telecoms like AT&T were cooperating with the NSA. It was an era of limited newsroom resources, and we had other stories to pursue.

There was also a key question that I wasnt sure I could answer even if I confirmed my tip. Had any Americans been hurt by NSA spying? This is a concern that comes up again and again. Its raised by judges presiding over lawsuits brought by public advocates and civil libertarians. The lack of an affirmative answer is used to justify ongoing surveillance.

Yet, we still dont know if any individual has been hurt or what potential exists for someone to be hurt in the future. A lot depends on what the NSA does with information it collects on those it refers to as US Persons, or USPs, and most of that information is withheld from the public. The NSA claims it takes great pains to comply with the U.S. Constitution, as well as U.S. laws and regulations. The Christmas Eve reports are interesting because they showed where the agency, in its own opinion, has fallen short.

The agencys reports, which emphasize incidents in which US persons were improperly targeted, dont appear at first to correlate with a cache of 160,000 intercepted communications that the Washington Post obtained via Edward Snowden. The Post reporters claimed ordinary Internet users, American and non-American alike, far outnumber legally targeted foreigners in the communications intercepted by theNational Security Agency. The story, published in July, raised new questions about the collateral harm to privacy from NSA surveillance.

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Highlights From Newly Released NSA Oversight Reports Reveal Bumbling Ineptitude But No Evidence Of Systemic Abuse

"The NSA and its UK accomplices show no respect for the rule of law": Julian Assange. Photo: AFP

Britain's intelligence-gathering agency spied on people who contacted WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing website's founder Julian Assange claims.

Assange says new documents reveal the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) was engaged in "hostile monitoring" of the publisher's website.

Information from national security whistleblower Edward Snowden detailed the spying efforts against WikiLeaks undertaken by GCHQ and the US National Security Agency (NSA), he said.

A document dated 2012 revealed GCHQ spied on WikiLeaks and its readers, said Assange, who has been living at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since the summer of 2012 for fear of being extradited to the US.

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"WikiLeaks strongly condemns the reckless and unlawful behaviour of the National Security Agency," Assange said. "We call on the Obama administration to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the extent of the NSA's criminal activity against the media including WikiLeaks and its extended network.

"News that the NSA planned these operations at the level of its Office of the General Counsel is especially troubling. No less concerning are revelations that the US government deployed 'elements of state power' to pressure European nations into abusing their own legal systems, and that the British spy agency GCHQ is engaged in extensive hostile monitoring of a popular publisher's website and its readers.

"The NSA and its UK accomplices show no respect for the rule of law."

WikiLeaks said it was surprised at the "sweeping" scale of the monitoring as well as the "blatant" way information was gathered.

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NSA, GCHQ spied on WikiLeaks, says Julian Assange

After something of a disastrous 2014 as far as public relations goes, the NSA chose Christmas Eve to release a pile of incriminating reports forced out into the open by a Freedom of Information request from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The heavily redacted documents reveal evidence of illegal surveillance and staff errors, and the National Security Agency itself admits that analysts deliberately ignored restrictions on their authority to spy on Americans multiple times in the past decade.

The ACLU say the released reports show the potential dangers of the NSAs surveillance policies and the ease with which data can be misused. The government conducts sweeping surveillance under this authority surveillance that increasingly puts Americans data in the hands of the NSA, Patrick C. Toomey, staff attorney with the ACLUs National Security Project, told Bloomberg. Despite that fact, this spying is conducted almost entirely in secret and without legislative or judicial oversight.

Related:NSAs Auroragold program spies on carriers to break into cell networks

The ACLU is calling for greater oversight for all three branches of government, originally filing the suit to bring to light the implications of an intelligence gathering executive order first issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Since then, it has undergone a variety of modifications, and gives the NSA the ability to gather information about U.S. citizens as a consequence of overseas data monitoring. By law, the agency cannot deliberately intercept messages from Americans, but these messages are often hauled in together with communications captured outside the country

For the NSAs part, it says that any data it shouldnt have is deleted as soon as its spotted. In its executive summary, the agency goes on to say that where illegal spying occurred it was largely due to a mistake on the part of one of its analysts rather than deliberate rule-breaking: The vast majority of compliance incidents involve unintentional technical or human error, reads the summary. NSA goes to great lengths to ensure compliance with the Constitution, laws and regulations.

One 2012 case, for example, shows an NSA analyst searching through her spouses personal telephone directory without his knowledge to obtain names and telephone numbers for targeting; that analyst has been advised to cease her activities, says the report. In another case an analyst mistakenly requested surveillance of himself rather than an individual identified through a foreign intelligence target report.

In another incident from 2012 an analyst ordered surveillance on a U.S. organization that he wasnt authorized to carry out. The analyst incorrectly believed that he was authorized to query [the data] due to a potential threat, reads the report, though nothing came of the surveillance. Any potential violations of NSA regulations are required to be reported to an oversight board as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and its reports to the latter office from 2001 to 2013 that have now been made public.

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NSA has been spying on Americans, new documents reveal

In response to an ACLU lawsuit, the agency on Christmas Eve releases heavily redacted reports detailing privacy violations between 2001 and 2013.

Grassroots groups fly an airship over an NSA data center in June to protest its mass surveillance program. Greenpeace

The National Security Administration gave its critics a Christmas gift this year: a treasure trove of reports on the agency's spying wrongdoings.

Though hardly a gift of the heart -- the NSA released the heavily redacted reports Christmas Eve in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the ACLU -- the reports do detail privacy violations that took place amid an overly broad surveillance net cast after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The quarterly and annual reports, filed with the president's Intelligence Oversight Board, cover NSA activities from 2001 to 2013. They cite examples of information on Americans being emailed to unauthorized recipients, stored in unsecured computers and retained after it was supposed to be destroyed, according to Bloomberg, which first noticed the reports as others awaited Santa's arrival.

The NSA maintains that the majority of the compliance incidents "involve unintentional technical or human error" and that in the "very few cases" involving intentional misuse, a thorough investigation was completed and reported, and appropriate disciplinary action was taken.

"By emphasizing accountability across all levels of the enterprise, and transparently reporting errors and violations to outside oversight authorities, NSA protects privacy and civil liberties while safeguarding the nation and our allies," the agency said in a statement.

In one example of intentional misuse, highlighted by Bloomberg, an analyst reported in 2012 that "during the past two or three years, she had searched her spouse's personal telephone directory without his knowledge to obtain names and telephone numbers for targeting." In a 2009 incident, a "US Army sergeant used an NSA system 'to target his wife,' also a soldier," according to The Wall Street Journal. That led to a reduction in his rank to specialist.

Much of the NSA's mission stems from a 1981 executive order that legalized the surveillance of foreigners living outside of the US. The agency's actions have come under increased scrutiny following the leak of documents in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Some of those pointed to alleged surveillance violations similar in nature to ones the NSA detailed in its Wednesday release.

Patrick Toomey, a staff attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project, said the new documents "shed more light on how these spying activities impact Americans, and how the NSA has misused the information it collects. They show an urgent need for greater oversight by all three branches of government."

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Ho, ho, ho! NSA reports on its spying naughtiness

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NSA Waits Until Christmas Eve to Reveal a Decade #39;s Worth of Its Mistakes
The National Security Agency went all out on a Christmas gift this year: a decade #39;s worth of declassified documents on the unauthorized surveillance of Americans. Turns out it #39;s the NSA that...

By: WochitGeneralNews

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NSA Waits Until Christmas Eve to Reveal a Decade's Worth of Its Mistakes - Video

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- The National Security Administration released a report on a decade's worth of privacy violations -- on Christmas Eve.

The agency posted the report to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union. It includes redacted reports to the president's Intelligence Oversight Board from the fourth quarter of 2001, when surveillance increased because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, to the second quarter of 2013.

The breaches include deliberate misuse of NSA surveillance capabilities by staffers who wanted to spy on spouses or lovers. But the agency said most violations of privacy were the result of unintentional mistakes.

In a statement, the NSA said the dozen or so cases of deliberate violations had been reported to the board and the Justice Department. There are also instances of data on U.S. citizens being stored on unsecured computers and of data that was supposed to be destroyed being kept.

"These materials show, over a sustained period of time, the depth and rigor of NSA's commitment to compliance," the statement said. "By emphasizing accountability across all levels of the enterprise, and transparently reporting errors and violations to outside oversight authorities, NSA protects privacy and civil liberties while safeguarding the nation and our allies."

Patrick Toomey, a lawyer with the ACLU's National Security Project, said the reports show "an urgent need for greater oversight by all three branches of government."

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NSA releases report on privacy violations -- on Christmas Eve

The National Security Agency released documents on Christmas Eve revealing surveillance activities that may have violated the law for U.S. policy over more than a decade, reports David Lerman at Bloomberg.

Compelled by an ACLU FOIA request, the agency published 12 years of quarterly reports that were created for the Presidents Intelligence Oversight Board between 2001 and mid-2013.

The reports are heavily redacted but include details of intentional and unintentional misuse of the NSAs signals intelligence gathering systems.

The reports detail unauthorized signals intelligence gathering that included data about U.S. citizens, unauthorized personnel using the intelligence gathering systems and abuses of the NSAs spying tools for personal use. NSA signals intelligence includes phone call metadata gathered through the NSAs links to telecommunications companies, as well as much more granular communications scooped up by the agencys electronic spy network. There are also several references to employees failing to complete required refresher training on signals intelligence systems.

In many instances, NSA employees ran poorly constructed or unauthorized queries in the NSA systems, and ended up gathering data on U.S. citizens or unintended targets. In most of these cases the data was then destroyed.

In one case, detailed in the third quarter of 2007, an NSA instructor ran an unauthorized search during a training session:

Lerman also reports on instances of NSA systems misuse that were already publicly known:

Those cases included a member of a U.S. military intelligence unit who violated policy by obtaining the communications of his wife, who was stationed in another country. After a military proceeding, the violator was punished by a reduction in rank, 45 days of extra duty and forfeiture of half of his pay for two months, according to the letter.

In a 2003 case, a civilian employee ordered intelligence collection of the telephone number of his foreign-national girlfriend without an authorized purpose for approximately one month to determine whether she was being faithful to him, according to the letter. The employee retired before an investigation could be completed.

In August, 2013, Judy Woodruff spoke with former NSA analyst Russell Tice who said the agency collects every domestic communication, word for word.

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NSA releases 12 years of damaging oversight reports on Christmas Eve