National Security Agency

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NSA Is Seizing Millions of Verizon Phone Records

White House defends 'ongoing, daily' surveillance as a 'critical tool'

(Newser) - A new report in the Guardian suggests the Obama administration isn't so different from its predecessor when it comes to domestic phone surveillance: The National Security Agency has been gathering the phone records of millions of US Verizon users thanks to a secret court order . The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance...

US Spy Chiefs: Cyber Threat Is on Par With Terrorism

Cyber Command looks to go on offense

(Newser) - With China , Iran , and other countries increasingly hacking the United States, its infrastructure, and its companies, the Pentagon is stepping up its cyber defense operations in a major way—provided Washington's budget battles don't hamstring its efforts, reports the Washington Post . Gen. Keith Alexander, the head of the...

Watchdog: Feds Illegally Spied on Americans

Electronic Frontier Foundation sues for documents to prove it

(Newser) - A watchdog agency is suing for the release of documents it says show the feds violated their own 2008 wiretapping law. The suit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation is based on statements made by Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, reports Wired . Wyden didn't say exactly how the government violated...

New NSA Spy Center Will Target Every Email and Phone Call

National Security Agency plan was banned by Congress years ago

(Newser) - Looks like Congress can't stop the NSA from monitoring every nook and cranny of our lives after all. In an explosive feature in Wired , James Bamford reveals that the National Security Agency has revived a program called "Total Information Awareness," which aims to collect and sift through...

Obama, NSA Spar on Cyber-Spying

NSA wants companies to watch Internet traffic for attacks

(Newser) - The White House and the National Security Agency have repeatedly clashed over the NSA's efforts to fight cyberattacks, with the Obama administration arguing that they would impinge on Americans' privacy, the Washington Post reports. The most dramatic confrontation was over legislation proposed last year that would have forced Internet...

Anonymous Could Shutter Power Grid: NSA Honcho

Ability to launch attack is still a few years off, though

(Newser) - Hacking collective Anonymous has taken on the FBI and the CIA , among others—and soon the group could be making its presence known in your living room. The National Security Agency director warns that within the next one to two years, Anonymous could launch a cyberattack that results in a...

NSA: Hey Kids! Spy on Your Family!

Agency's CryptoKids cartoons touts fun projects like computer surveillance

(Newser) - New CryptoKids cartoons created by the National Security Agency urge wanna-be baby spies to make and break codes, pick up languages for easy eavesdropping, and oh, hey, monitor family computers so they know exactly what everyone in the house is doing. The character Decipher Dog discusses his "favorite project"...

Pentagon Workers Accused of Downloading Child Porn

Some Defense Department employees had top-secret security clearances

(Newser) - Several dozen Pentagon officials and contractors with high-level security clearances have allegedly been caught buying or downloading child pornography. Federal investigators identified alleged perverts everywhere from the NSA to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and some of them even used their work computers to download the material, the Boston ...

Ex-NSA Exec Indicted Over Leaks to Media

He allegedly told newspaper about Bush intel policies

(Newser) - A former National Security Agency executive has been indicted on 10 felony charges for allegedly leaking classified details of the Bush administration’s intelligence policies to a national newspaper. The indictment alleges that Thomas Drake, a former big shot in the agency’s Signals Intelligence Directorate, sent hundreds of emails...

Google Teams With NSA to Fight Cyberattacks

Deal shows challenge of balancing user privacy with security

(Newser) - Shaken by recent large-scale hacking of its systems, Google is enlisting the National Security Agency in a deal that highlights the growing dilemma of balancing privacy concerns with national security interests. The agreement, the first of its kind between a government agency and an Internet search company, will see the...

Plan Could Divine Missing Watergate Minutes, CSI-Style

Archivist pushes plan to uncover lost pages' imprints

(Newser) - A Watergate hobbyist has a plan to discover what was discussed during the 18½ minutes erased from a taped conversation between President Nixon and his chief of staff after the break-in. Phil Mellinger doesn’t want to examine the tape itself; that's been done without success. He says the answer...

Pentagon's Cybercommand Raises Privacy Fears

Militarization of cybersecurity fuels debate on rules of engagement

(Newser) - Plans to put America's cybersecurity under the control of the Pentagon are raising some thorny privacy and diplomacy issues, the New York Times reports. President Obama has insisted that the military, under the cybercommand being developed, will not be monitoring private sector networks and Internet traffic—but Pentagon officials say...

Prez's Pimped-Out BlackBerry Nearly Ready

The NSA begins final tests on encryption software this month

(Newser) - President Obama’s super-secure, high-powered new BlackBerry could soon get the thumbs-up from the National Security Agency, which is about to begin final tests on its encryption software. The president could be texting, emailing, calling and Facebooking other high-security personnel—like Michelle O.—within months, the Washington Times reports,...

Wiretap Catches Rep Making Deal for Pro-Israel Lobby Group

Bushies helped kill probe of Dem Harman

(Newser) - A wiretap by the National Security Agency caught California Rep. Jane Harman promising a suspected Israeli agent she’d intervene on behalf of two pro-Israeli lobbyists facing espionage charges, sources tell CQ Politics. In exchange, the agent promised to pressure then-minority leader Nancy Pelosi into making Harman chair of the...

Senate Will Probe NSA in Wiretapping 'Overcollection'

(Newser) - The Senate Intelligence Committee is planning an inquiry into the National Security Agency after reports the spy group has been engaged in “overcollection” of information domestically, the New York Times reports. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the committee, said a hearing would be held within the month. The...

NSA Violated Domestic Wiretap Limits

Agency overcollected Americans' emails, phonecalls: officials

(Newser) - The NSA has been listening in on the domestic communications of American citizens well in excess of the limits placed on it by Congress last year, say intelligence officials. The Justice Department has confirmed to the New York Times that it detected "issues" in recent months but said it ...

Military Snooped on Troops' Phone Sex

Intercept operators listened to calls of troops, journalists, aid workers for fun

(Newser) - The US military routinely listened in on highly personal private phone calls of Americans calling home from the Middle East, two former operators told ABC News. President Bush has insisted that only the calls of terror suspects are monitored, but the whistleblowers say operators monitored the calls of blameless military...

Domestic Spying Shuts Down US Foundation

But offers no evidence, in 4 years, for 'aiding terrorists' charges

(Newser) - The Al-Haramain foundation was wiretapped, raided, closed down, and had its accounts frozen 4 years ago for allegedly funding terrorists. The Ashland, Ore. group's leaders landed in legal and financial jeopardy, but to this day have not seen the evidence against them. Salon dissects the case as an example of...

House Rejects Immunity for Telecoms Again

Lawmakers OK surveillance bill, brush off threat of Bush veto

(Newser) - The House again spurned President Bush today, passing a version of an anti-terrorism surveillance bill that does not grant retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that participated in the government's warrantless-wiretapping program. The vote was 213-197, far less than the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised presidential veto, Reuters...

NSA Spying Branches Out
NSA Spying Branches Out
Mar 10, 2008 2:50 PM CDT

NSA Spying Branches Out

Domestic calls, email, financial transactions under scrutiny—all without a warrant

(Newser) - Traditionally charged with foreign surveillance, the NSA has increasingly been analyzing data collected domestically, reports the Wall Street Journal—on a scale comparable to that of a Pentagon proposal Congress killed 5 years ago. "When it got taken apart, it didn't get thrown away," says a former government...

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