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NEWS ABOUT: National Security Agency

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NSA: Hey Kids! Spy on Your Family!

Agency's CryptoKids cartoons touts fun projects like computer surveillance

(Newser) - New CryptoKids cartoons created by the National Security Agency urge wanna-be baby spies to make and break codes, pick up languages for easy eavesdropping, and oh, hey, monitor family computers so they know exactly what everyone in the house is doing. The character Decipher Dog discusses his "favorite project"... More »

Pentagon Workers Accused of Downloading Child Porn

Some Defense Department employees had top-secret security clearances

(Newser) - Several dozen Pentagon officials and contractors with high-level security clearances have allegedly been caught buying or downloading child pornography. Federal investigators identified alleged perverts everywhere from the NSA to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and some of them even used their work computers to download the material, the Boston ... More »

Ex-NSA Exec Indicted Over Leaks to Media

He allegedly told newspaper about Bush intel policies

(Newser) - A former National Security Agency executive has been indicted on 10 felony charges for allegedly leaking classified details of the Bush administration’s intelligence policies to a national newspaper. The indictment alleges that Thomas Drake, a former big shot in the agency’s Signals Intelligence Directorate, sent hundreds of emails... More »

Google Teams With NSA to Fight Cyberattacks

Deal shows challenge of balancing user privacy with security

(Newser) - Shaken by recent large-scale hacking of its systems, Google is enlisting the National Security Agency in a deal that highlights the growing dilemma of balancing privacy concerns with national security interests. The agreement, the first of its kind between a government agency and an Internet search company, will see the... More »

Plan Could Divine Missing Watergate Minutes, CSI-Style

Archivist pushes plan to uncover lost pages' imprints

(Newser) - A Watergate hobbyist has a plan to discover what was discussed during the 18½ minutes erased from a taped conversation between President Nixon and his chief of staff after the break-in. Phil Mellinger doesn’t want to examine the tape itself; that's been done without success. He says the answer... More »

Pentagon's Cybercommand Raises Privacy Fears

Militarization of cybersecurity fuels debate on rules of engagement

(Newser) - Plans to put America's cybersecurity under the control of the Pentagon are raising some thorny privacy and diplomacy issues, the New York Times reports. President Obama has insisted that the military, under the cybercommand being developed, will not be monitoring private sector networks and Internet traffic—but Pentagon officials say... More »

Prez's Pimped-Out BlackBerry Nearly Ready

The NSA begins final tests on encryption software this month

(Newser) - President Obama’s super-secure, high-powered new BlackBerry could soon get the thumbs-up from the National Security Agency, which is about to begin final tests on its encryption software. The president could be texting, emailing, calling and Facebooking other high-security personnel—like Michelle O.—within months, the Washington Times reports,... More »

Wiretap Catches Rep Making Deal for Pro-Israel Lobby Group

Bushies helped kill probe of Dem Harman

(Newser) - A wiretap by the National Security Agency caught California Rep. Jane Harman promising a suspected Israeli agent she’d intervene on behalf of two pro-Israeli lobbyists facing espionage charges, sources tell CQ Politics. In exchange, the agent promised to pressure then-minority leader Nancy Pelosi into making Harman chair of the... More »

Senate Will Probe NSA in Wiretapping 'Overcollection'

(Newser) - The Senate Intelligence Committee is planning an inquiry into the National Security Agency after reports the spy group has been engaged in “overcollection” of information domestically, the New York Times reports. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the committee, said a hearing would be held within the month. The... More »

NSA Violated Domestic Wiretap Limits

Agency overcollected Americans' emails, phonecalls: officials

(Newser) - The NSA has been listening in on the domestic communications of American citizens well in excess of the limits placed on it by Congress last year, say intelligence officials. The Justice Department has confirmed to the New York Times that it detected "issues" in recent months but said it ... More »

Military Snooped on Troops' Phone Sex

Intercept operators listened to calls of troops, journalists, aid workers for fun

(Newser) - The US military routinely listened in on highly personal private phone calls of Americans calling home from the Middle East, two former operators told ABC News. President Bush has insisted that only the calls of terror suspects are monitored, but the whistleblowers say operators monitored the calls of blameless military... More »

Domestic Spying Shuts Down US Foundation

But offers no evidence, in 4 years, for 'aiding terrorists' charges

(Newser) - The Al-Haramain foundation was wiretapped, raided, closed down, and had its accounts frozen 4 years ago for allegedly funding terrorists. The Ashland, Ore. group's leaders landed in legal and financial jeopardy, but to this day have not seen the evidence against them. Salon dissects the case as an example of... More »

House Rejects Immunity for Telecoms Again

Lawmakers OK surveillance bill, brush off threat of Bush veto

(Newser) - The House again spurned President Bush today, passing a version of an anti-terrorism surveillance bill that does not grant retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that participated in the government's warrantless-wiretapping program. The vote was 213-197, far less than the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised presidential veto, Reuters... More »

NSA Spying Branches Out

Domestic calls, email, financial transactions under scrutiny—all without a warrant

(Newser) - Traditionally charged with foreign surveillance, the NSA has increasingly been analyzing data collected domestically, reports the Wall Street Journal—on a scale comparable to that of a Pentagon proposal Congress killed 5 years ago. "When it got taken apart, it didn't get thrown away," says a former government... More »

Ex-Qwest CEO Claims Spy Effort Began Before 9/11

Says NSA sought phone records months earlier

(Newser) - Joseph Nacchio, the former CEO of Qwest Communications, claims that the National Security Agency asked his company in February, 2001, to participate in a potentially illegal surveillance program—and when he declined, punished the company by dropping a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars, reports the Washington Post. The... More »

Dems Will Cave on Wiretaps

Despite earlier opposition, pols fear being labeled soft on terrorism

(Newser) - Despite having vowed to rein in the administration on wiretapping without warrants, congressional Democrats are preparing to approve bills which would maintain for several years the surveillance authority legalized this summer by the Protect America Act, the New York Times reports. Dems fear that opposing the legislation will label them... More »

Cheney Admits He Has Secret Wiretap Documents

But he'll resist Senate subpoena to see them

(Newser) - Vice President Dick Cheney will resist efforts by Congress to force him to produce dozens of documents relating to a warrantless wiretapping program conducted by the National Security Agency, the Washington Post reports. Cheney's counsel acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the vice president's office has documents relating to... More »

Bush Signs Law Expanding Wiretap Powers

Legalizes tapping calls and emails in and out of US without warrant

(Newser) - President Bush signed into law yesterday measures significantly expanding the government's authority to eavesdrop on millions of phone calls and e-mails going in and out of the US without warrants. The law, passed by Congress after bruising battles, effectively legalizes secret surveillance being conducted by a controversial National Security Agency... More »

Rove Won't Testify, Citing Privilege

Counsel orders adviser to keep mum; Gonzales stands pat on testimony

(Newser) - The White House has ordered Karl Rove to keep quiet—despite a subpoena by congressional Dems probing the US Attorney firings. In a political fait accompli, counsel Fred Fielding told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the adviser is "immune from compelled congressional testimony" about White House machinations. More »

FBI Chief's Testimony Contradicts Gonzales

Democrats demand perjury probe

(Newser) - Pressure mounted on Alberto Gonzales yesterday as FBI director Robert Mueller directly contradicted the attorney general in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Mueller and Gonzales gave dramatically different accounts about  whether the Justice department's secret eavesdropping program was the subject of the now-legendary nighttime confrontation at the hospital bedside... More »

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