6/29 June 2013
NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program
The top-secret PRISM program allows the U.S. intelligence community to gain access from nine Internet companies to a wide range of digital information, including e-mails and stored data, on foreign targets operating outside the United States. The program is court-approved but does not require individual warrants. Instead, it operates under a broader authorization from federal judges who oversee the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Some documents describing the program were first released by The Washington Post on June 6. The newly released documents below give additional details about how the program operates, including the levels of review and supervisory control at the NSA and FBI. The documents also show how the program interacts with the Internet companies. These slides, annotated by The Post, represent a selection from the overall document, and certain portions are redacted.
Read related article: washingtonpost.com | guardian.co.uk
27 Jun 2013
Justice Department and NSA memos proposing broader powers for NSA to collect data
Memo to attorney general Michael Mukasey in 2007 requesting permission for the NSA to expand its ‘contact chains’ deeper into Americans’ email records
20 Jun 2013
Procedures used by NSA to target non-US persons: Exhibit A – full document
Top-secret documents show Fisa judges have signed off on broad orders allowing the NSA to make use of information ‘inadvertently’ collected from domestic US communications without a warrant
20 Jun 2013
Procedures used by NSA to minimize data collection from US persons: Exhibit B – full document
The documents detail the procedures the NSA is required to follow to target ‘non-US persons’ under its foreign intelligence powers – and what the agency does to minimize data collected on US citizens and residents
8 Jun 2013
Boundless Informant: NSA explainer – full document text
View the three-page explanation document, which showed the NSA collected almost 3 billion pieces of intelligence from US computer networks over a 30-day period ending in March
8 Jun 2013
5 Jun 2013
Verizon forced to hand over telephone data – full court ruling