Ride the Lightning

Surprise (Not): NSA Violates Privacy Rules Thousands of Times Each Year

August 19, 2013

Courtesy of Edward Snowden, The Washington Post published a story based on an internal National Security Agency (NSA) audit and other top secret documents. The story indicates that the NSA has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of time each year since it was granted broad new powers in 2008.

Most of the violations involved unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence agents in the U.S., surveillance that is restricted under statute and Executive Order. They resulted in the interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls.

The documents offer a level of detail and analysis that is not usually shared with Congress or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. For example, NSA personnel were instructed to remove details and use more generic language in their reports to the Department of Justice and the Director of National Intelligence.

In at least one instance, the NSA decided that it didn't need to report the unintended surveillance of Americans. One example involved a programming error that confused the U.S. area code 202 with 20, the international dialing code of Egypt. I get that – why report something that makes you look like an idiot?

In another case, the FISA court was not advised of a new data collection method until it had been in use for months. It was ruled unconstitutional. Again, I get it. Why give an oversight court information about a really cool collection method that happens to be unconstitutional and risk having it shut down?

In June, after promising transparency about the NSA's record, NSA Deputy Director James Cole said in Congressional testimony, "Every now and then, there may be a mistake."  Since when do thousands of infractions amount to "now and then?" Sounds like an example of the government's new math.