A top secret National Security Agency program allows
analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases
containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of
individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The NSA boasts in training materials that the program,
called XKeyscore, is its "widest-reaching" system for developing
intelligence from the internet.
The latest revelations will add to the intense public and
congressional debate around the extent of NSA surveillance programs.
They come
as senior intelligence officials testify to the Senate judiciary committee on
Wednesday, releasing classified documents in response to the Guardian's earlier
stories on bulk collection of phone records and Fisa surveillance court
oversight.
The files shed light on one of Snowden's most controversial
statements, made in his first video interview published by the Guardian on June
10.
"I, sitting at my desk," said Snowden, could
"wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even
the president, if I had a personal email".
US officials vehemently denied this specific claim. Mike
Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, said of
Snowden's assertion: "He's lying. It's impossible for him to do what he
was saying he could do."
But training materials for XKeyscore detail how analysts can
use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases by filling in a
simple on-screen form giving only a broad justification for the search. The
request is not reviewed by a court or any NSA personnel before it is processed.
XKeyscore, the documents boast, is the NSA's "widest
reaching" system developing intelligence from computer networks – what the
agency calls Digital Network Intelligence (DNI). One presentation claims the
program covers "nearly everything a typical user does on the
internet", including the content of emails, websites visited and searches,
as well as their metadata.
Analysts can also use XKeyscore and other NSA systems to
obtain ongoing "real-time" interception of an individual's internet
activity.
Under US law, the NSA is required to obtain an
individualized Fisa warrant only if the target of their surveillance is a 'US
person', though no such warrant is required for intercepting the communications
of Americans with foreign targets.
But XKeyscore provides the technological
capability, if not the legal authority, to target even US persons for extensive
electronic surveillance without a warrant provided that some identifying
information, such as their email or IP address, is known to the analyst.
One training slide illustrates the digital activity
constantly being collected by XKeyscore and the analyst's ability to query the
databases at any time.
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