"Following recent claims by President Obama and NSA chief Keith Alexander that the National Security Agency does not monitor the communications of US citizens without a warrant, the Guardian published a new set of top secret documents on Thursday exposing the illegitimacy of those claims. The published documents include two sets of NSA rules that had been approved through the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court), signed by Attorney General Eric Holder and stamped on July 29, 2009. The rules outline "broad orders" that allow the NSA to use information "inadvertently" collected from US citizens who partake in cross-border communications. This information can include email and phone call content and be obtained without a warrant, as long as the citizen is engaging in foreign correspondence. The orders mandate that "even under authorities governing the collection of foreign intelligence from foreign targets, US communications can still be collected, retained and used," even if a warrant has never been issued for the domestic communications, Guardian reporters Glenn Greenwald and James Ball write. Following the court orders, domestic US communications that have been scooped up within the vast foreign intelligence dragnet surveillance programs—exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden this month—can be kept by the NSA for up to five years and used "if they contain usable intelligence, information on criminal activity, threat of harm to people or property, are encrypted, or are believed to contain any information relevant to cybersecurity." In addition, the NSA can collect and hold "foreign intelligence information" contained within attorney-client communications in the US."
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 18:28:31 +0000
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