Wednesday, July 31, 2013

NSA program lets Joe NSA Drone search through gobs of data with no oversight

I didn't expect Gen. Alexander's promises to have a half life measured in hours.  He swore today that there was oversight, oversight, toujours l'oversight.  I guess it depends on what you mean by "oversight":
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.

...

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.
[emphasis mine] This looks to directly contradict his statement today (which I live blogged):
0950 - Talking about technical controls, he points out that he can't intercept his daughter's email.  People laugh, but it's the same auditability problem.
Remember, these are the NSA training documents for the query system that contradict the Director of the NSA.  It appears that Gen. Alexander is either unaware of what his Agency is doing or is willfully mus-representing what his Agency does to the American public.  Color me unimpressed.

Hat tip to commenter Spike in the comments here.

2 comments:

Alan said...

It's entirely possible that Alexander is just repeating what he's been told. Most guys at that level have no clue at all what goes on in the bowels of the company.

Old NFO said...

Agree with Alan... Talking heads usually DON'T know what the worker bees can actually do...