DOCSLIB.ORG

Everybody Knows: Snowden's Nsa Leaks, Metadata and Privacy Implications for Australia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Everybody Knows: Snowden's Nsa Leaks, Metadata and Privacy Implications for Australia GENNA CHURCHES S-205834 LWC320 RESEARCH PAPER SS2013 EVERYBODY KNOWS EVERYBODY KNOWS: SNOWDEN’S NSA LEAKS, METADATA AND PRIVACY IMPLICATIONS FOR AUSTRALIA GENNA CHURCHES* * Charles Darwin Law Student number s205834 — Bachelor of Laws Honours Paper, summer 2013. Supervisor: Felicity Gerry i GENNA CHURCHES S-205834 LWC320 RESEARCH PAPER SS2013 EVERYBODY KNOWS TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ ii I Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 II Enter Stage Left — The Snowden Documents ........................................................................ 3 A Validity of Snowden Documents ......................................................................................... 3 B What Is Collected? ............................................................................................................... 4 1 GPS/Location Data ........................................................................................................... 4 2 Undersea Cables ............................................................................................................... 5 3 Backdoors in Software and Data Retention ..................................................................... 5 4 Data Sharing ..................................................................................................................... 6 5 Worse to come? ................................................................................................................ 7 6 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 8 III Metadata ............................................................................................................................... 9 A Why is it important?............................................................................................................. 9 B Mobile Communications .................................................................................................... 10 C Internet Usage .................................................................................................................... 11 D Summary ............................................................................................................................ 11 IV Enter Stage Right — Privacy ............................................................................................. 13 A A Right to Privacy — A Right to Property, Liberty and Life? .......................................... 13 1 Warren and Brandeis ...................................................................................................... 13 B Jurisprudence of Metadata — Building a Fence ................................................................ 17 1 Privacy Cases ................................................................................................................. 17 2 GPS Cases ...................................................................................................................... 24 ii GENNA CHURCHES S-205834 LWC320 RESEARCH PAPER SS2013 EVERYBODY KNOWS 3 Jurisprudence Summary ................................................................................................. 26 C Human Rights .................................................................................................................... 27 V Legislative Authority — Mass Metadata Collection ............................................................. 31 A Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth) (‘TIAA’) ....................... 31 B Intelligence Services Act 2001 (Cth) (‘ISA’) .................................................................... 32 C Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (Cth) (‘ASIOA’) ....................... 35 D Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘PA’) ........................................................................................... 35 E Surveillance Devices Acts ................................................................................................. 36 F Summary of Legislative Authority .................................................................................... 36 VI Other Legal Protections and Principles .............................................................................. 37 A Legally Privileged Information .......................................................................................... 37 B Rule of Law........................................................................................................................ 37 C General Warrants ............................................................................................................... 38 D Constitutional Rights ......................................................................................................... 40 VII Who Is To Blame? ............................................................................................................. 42 A The Relevant Minister or AIC?.......................................................................................... 42 B Office of the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security ............................................ 42 VIII Does Privacy Matter? ......................................................................................................... 44 IX The Remedy ....................................................................................................................... 47 X Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 50 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 52 A Articles/Books.................................................................................................................... 52 B Cases .................................................................................................................................. 59 iii GENNA CHURCHES S-205834 LWC320 RESEARCH PAPER SS2013 EVERYBODY KNOWS C Legislation.......................................................................................................................... 62 D UN Documents/Declarations ............................................................................................. 63 E Reports/Inquiries/Royal Commissions/Bill Digests .......................................................... 64 F Online Newspapers/Internet Materials/Media Releases/Transcripts ................................. 66 G Other .................................................................................................................................. 78 iv GENNA CHURCHES S-205834 LWC320 RESEARCH PAPER SS2013 EVERYBODY KNOWS The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.1 I INTRODUCTION In 1890, lawyers Warren and Brandeis, wrote an influential paper discussing the support within the common-law for a right to privacy.2 They considered the many similar protections already afforded by the torts of libel, slander and defamation and their homogenous support of a tort of privacy. They believed the press was overstepping the ‘bounds of proprietary and decency’,3 dealing in a prurient trade of gossip, stepping so low as to portray ‘details of sexual relations’.4 Privacy has not attained the great heights which Warren and Brandeis envisaged — instead the media is hacking phones,5 corporations are collecting masses of metadata6 and governmental spy agencies have been accessing and retaining metadata and communications of ordinary citizens the world over.7 Every detail of life is either retained in some form by governments and/or large corporations or at least accessible without permission or judicial check. Data is collected, analysed and retained, granting unsurpassed insight into the most personal of details and thought. How would Warren and Brandeis8 have felt in today’s transparent world? A world which, with the aid of the 1 This quote has been attributed to many different sources from Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln through to Leonard Courtney, Wendell Phillips and John Curran, Master of the Rolls in Ireland; see also Robert McClelland, ‘The Future of Security’ (2007) 3(4) Original Law Review 107, quoting, Franco Frattini, European Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, ‘Our citizens entrust us with the task of protecting them against crime and terrorist attacks; however, at the same time, they entrust us with safeguarding their fundamental rights.’ 2 Samuel D Warren and Louis D Brandeis, ‘The Right to Privacy’ (1890) 5(IV) Harvard Law Review 193. 3 Ibid 196. 4 Ibid. 5 Leveson LJ, Leveson Inquiry, The Report into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press, 29 November 2012 <http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/>; Lisa O’Carroll, ‘Rebekah Brooks To Begin Her Defence At Phone-Hacking Trial’, The Guardian (online), <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/18/rebekah-brooks-defence-phone- hacking-trial-andy-coulson?CMP=ema_546>. 6 See, eg, Nina Golgowski, ‘How Target Knows When Its Shoppers Are Pregnant – and Figured out a Teen Was before Her Father Did’, The Daily Mail (online), <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102859/How-Target- knows-shoppers-pregnant--figured-teen-father-did.html#ixzz2uOkwgc3X>. 7 See, eg, The Guardian,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Reference Guide to Selected Historical Documents Relating to the National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) 1931-1985
    Description of document: A Reference Guide to Selected Historical Documents Relating to the National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) 1931-1985 Requested date: 15-June-2009 Released date: 03-February-2010 Posted date: 15-February-2010 Source of document: National Security Agency Attn: FOIA/PA Office (DJP4) 9800 Savage Road, Suite 6248 Ft. George G. Meade, MD 20755-6248 Fax: 443-479-3612 Online form: Here The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is noncommercial and free to the public. The site and materials made available on the site, such as this file, are for reference only. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals have made every effort to make this information as complete and as accurate as possible, however, there may be mistakes and omissions, both typographical and in content. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information provided on the governmentattic.org web site or in this file. The public records published on the site were obtained from government agencies using proper legal channels. Each document is identified as to the source. Any concerns about the contents of the site should be directed to the agency originating the document in question. GovernmentAttic.org is not responsible for the contents of documents published on the website. A REFERENCE GUIDE TO SELECTED HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE 1931-1985 (U) SOURCE DOCUMENTS IN Compiled by: CRYPTOLOGIC HISTORY Gerald K.
    [Show full text]
  • How Much Is Too Much?
    LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW __________________________________ VOLUME 3 FALL 2015 _____________________________________ THE NSA’S EAVESDROPPING OPERATIONS AFTER THE SNOWDEN REVELATIONS: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH? JANUARY 2015 SYMPOSIUM TRANSCRIPT James Bamford MR. JACOB BAGGETT: I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. James Bamford as our first speaker. Mr. Bamford is an award-winning journalist in the field of national security. The New York Times calls him the nation's premier journalist on the subject of the NSA. And his most recent book, "The Shadow Factory", which is on sale outside by Union Avenue Books, was named by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year. And he's here to discuss the transformation of the NSA since September 11th. Please welcome Mr. Bamford. (Applause) MR. JAMES BAMFORD: Thanks very much. It's really great being here. I want to thank Matt Lyon and Melanie Reid, Jacob Baggett, and Lauren Mullins for taking really great care of me. It's really great being here. The fact that this university is named after NSA AFTER SNOWDEN 116 President Lincoln is really quite an honor for me because I've always admired one of the things he's said. And that is the quote he has up here. I think if he had been President about a dozen years ago, we might not have gotten into the war in Iraq. If you read his quote there, "[k]ings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object."1 He was very much against attacking countries without getting congressional approval.
    [Show full text]
  • Tesi Di Diploma Di Mediatore Linguistico
    ! SCUOLA SUPERIORE PER MEDIATORI LINGUISTICI (Decreto Ministero dell’Università 31/07/2003) Via P. S. Mancini, 2 – 00196 - Roma TESI DI DIPLOMA DI MEDIATORE LINGUISTICO (Curriculum Interprete e Traduttore) Equipollente ai Diplomi di Laurea rilasciati dalle Università al termine dei Corsi afferenti alla classe delle LAUREE UNIVERSITARIE IN SCIENZE DELLA MEDIAZIONE LINGUISTICA CASO SNOWDEN: IL DATAGATE RELATORI: CORRELATORI: Prof.ssa Bisirri Adriana Prof.re Farrell Paul Nicholas Prof.re Medina Delgado Carlos Alberto Prof.ssa Piemonte Claudia CANDIDATA: LUDOVICA MARTINO MATRICOLA: 2347 ANNO ACCADEMICO 2017/2018 1! A mia mamma, mio papà e mio fratello Tommaso che credono sempre in me e mi danno fiducia. Ad Alessia sorella e complice nelle difficoltà. Alle mie amiche di una vita Beatrice e Flavia, certezze inesauribili. A mia nonna Teresa luce della mia vita. Vi voglio bene. 2! 3! INDICE SEZIONE ITALIANA Introduzione…………………………………………………..………10 CAPITOLO I: Chi è Edward Snowden…………………………….…..13 CAPITOLO II: La NSA…………………………………………..……17 2.1 Il quarto emendamento……………………………………20 CAPITOLO III: Quali informazioni ha divulgato……………………..21 3.1 PRISM………………….……….…………………………22 3.1.1 Contenuti e metadati…………………………….25 3.2 Caso VERIZON……….……….…………………………..26 3.2.1 Patriot Act …………..…………………………..26 3.3 Boundless Informant….……………….…………………..27 3.4 Tempora……………….……………………………………28 3.4.1 Upstream………..……………………………….29 3.5 Xkeyscore………………………………………………….30 3.6 Blarney………..….………………………………………..31 CAPITOLO IV: Chi l’aveva già fatto prima di lui……………………..33 4.1 Wikileaks:
    [Show full text]
  • Timeline of US Govt. Surveillance & Spying
    The history of United States government domestic surveillance and spying is long. Over the years, the US government has launched covert and illegal projects whose purpose among other is to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" movements for justice and freedom. Launched in March 2008, the LAPD Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) – Special Order 1 and iWATCH “See Something, Say Something” Program is one such open assault on people’s privacy and freedom, done under the pretext of “national security and the war on terror”. 1798: Congress passes four laws which come to be known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts: o June 17, 1798: The Naturalization Act increases the amount of time necessary for immigrants to become naturalized citizens in the United States from five to fourteen years; 1 o June 24, 1798: The Alien Friends Act authorizes the president to deport any resident alien considered "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States;”2 o July 5, 1798: The Alien Enemies Act authorizes the president to apprehend and deport resident aliens if their home countries are at war with the United States of America. This includes aliens who are not chargeable with actual hostility or other crime against the public safety;3 o July 13, 1798: The Sedition Act makes it a crime to "oppose any measure or measures of the government" as well as to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government or its officials. The Act is intended to stifle dissent.4 April 12, 1917: President Wilson persuades Congress to declare war on Germany and enter World War 1, but the American public is wary of the financial and military cost.
    [Show full text]
  • Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance Director of International Intelligence Scarlett Robinson Secretary of International Defense Alec Prodger
    EYES ONLY ACCESS Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance Director of International Intelligence Scarlett Robinson Secretary of International Defense Alec Prodger Office of the Queen’s Model United Nations Washington D.C. THIS IS A SECURITY COVER SHEET CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET NO DISSEMINATION OR DECLASSIFICATION The contents of this document are fictional based loosely on the X-Files and will be used for the purposes of an extracurricular event. This document contains information affecting the international defense and security of the English-speaking world. Within the meaning of the Espionage Act ss U.S.C. 35 and 38. Its transmission or revelation of its contents in any manner to any unauthorized persons is prohibited by law. Reproduction in any form or the taking of written or electronically transcribed notes is strictly forbidden. READ AND DESTROY EYES ONLY ACCESS About This Committee On behalf of the Queen’s National Model United Nations conference team, we welcome you to the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance Committee! In this committee you will be discussing the security and intelligence needs of a secret alliance formed between the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. You, the delegates, will represent the Directors, Chiefs, and Commanders of the security and defense agencies that make up the Five Eyes Alliance in the year 1996, and you will be tasked with guiding your respective countries through difficult security and intelligence issues. The most recent incident involving extraterrestrial activity was the Phoenix Lights incident: the spotting of a group of strange lights in a V formation above Phoenix, Arizona.
    [Show full text]
  • Church Cmte Book III: National Security Agency Surveillance
    NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY SURVEILLANCE AFFECTING AMERICANS CONTENTS Page I. Introduction and Summary-- _ _ _ - - __ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 735 A. NSA’s origins and official responsibilities __________________ 736 B. Summary of interception programs-- _ ____________________ 738 C. Issues and questions-- _ __ __ -_ - _ _ _- _ __ -_ _ __ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 742 II. NSA’s Monitoring of International Communications- _____________ _ 743 A. Summary of watch list activity- _ _ _ _- _____ - ______________ 743 B. History_____------------------------------------------ 744 C. Types of names on watchlists------ _____________________ 749 D. Overlapping nature of intelligence community requests- _ _ _ _ 750 E. Drug watch lists: United States-South American intercepts- 752 F. Termination of the civil disturbance watch list activity- __ _ 756 G. Authorisation___-______---_------------------------------- 761 H. Conclusions------------------------------------------- 764 III. A Special NSA Collection Program: SHAMROCK ________________ 765 A. Legal restrictions _______________________________________ 765 B. The committee’s investigation- - _ - _ __ _ _ _ _ _- _ __ _ __ _ __ __ __ _ 766 C. The origins of SHAMROCK- - _ _________ ________________ 767 D. The participation of the companies-- __ __ _-_ __ _ -_ _-_ __ _ _ _ _ 770 E. NSA’s participation- _ _ _ ________________________________ 774 F. Termination of SHAMROCK- - _ - ________ -- _______ - _____ 776 IV. NSA Personnel Security and Related Matters- - - _ _ _ _ __ _-_ __ _-_ __ _ 777 A.
    [Show full text]
  • Fallwinter 202021 Us Edelweiss
    Table of Contents –Fall Winter 2021 catalog ISBN Title Page no. on PDF 9780199393022 Isolationism 1 9780190056629 Medicare for All 3 9780198861904 Jane Austen 5 9780198828754 A Bite of the Apple 7 9780198749585 The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes 10 9780198846383 The Wonder Book of Geometry 12 9780190699734 The Religion Clauses 14 The Sum of Our Dreams: A Concise History of 9780190692575 America 16 Crackup: The Republican Implosion and the Future 9780190913823 of Presidential Politics 19 9780190083052 The Hitler Conspiracies 21 9780198842125 Is Einstein Still Right? 23 9780197522806 Atlas of the World 25 9780198702986 The Oxford Illustrated History of The Book 27 9780190684099 Predict and Surveil 29 9780190913656 On Being and Becoming 31 9780197523353 The Last Assassin 33 9780198862079 Being Evil 35 The Movement: The African American Struggle for 9780197525791 Civil Rights 37 A Most Peculiar Book: The Inherent Strangeness of 9780190651732 the Bible 39 9780195331400 The Compleat Victory 41 9780190672058 Adaptation under Fire 43 9780190053468 Wendy Carlos 46 9780197510049 One Small Candle 48 9780197515327 The Camera Lies 50 9780190943424 Story Movements 52 9780190694364 The President and Immigration Law 54 The Securitarian Personality: Trump’s Base and 9780190096489 American 56 9780190064938 The Future of Christian Marriage 58 9780190914110 Heart Full of Rhythm 60 9780190941154 Witness to the Age of Revolution 62 9780190055295 Threats: Intimidation and Its Discontents 65 9780190084448 Hatred 67 Journey into the Land of the Zeks and
    [Show full text]
  • System Security: a Missing Filter for the Propaganda Model? Daniel Broudy and Miyume Tanji
    CHAPTER 7 System Security: A Missing Filter for the Propaganda Model? Daniel Broudy and Miyume Tanji 7.1 Introduction In the present post-9/11 dispensation, the world’s so-called indispensable nation1 has managed, to a great extent, to dispense with liberty in the interest of secu- rity.2 As with the spread of neoliberal ideology, the spreading assault on civil lib- erties appears to be a global phenomenon. But, what can be said of societies and their systems of public awareness and mass surveillance that seek to reinforce and normalise the destruction of these cherished liberties? We hypothesise from our close studies of the public discourse that powerful forms of state and corpo- rate propaganda play integral parts in the political theatre conditioning citizens to tolerate the revolting decomposing corpse of liberty. For insights on how this decay appears today we turn to a postulated model of propaganda to help us apprehend what it can tell us about resistance to this contemporary stagecraft. While gaining currency as a research tool, the ‘Propaganda Model’ (PM hereafter) set out by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media has, over the past three decades, helped throw a critical light on elite control and management of How to cite this book chapter: Broudy, D. and Tanji, M. 2018. System Security: A Missing Filter for the Propa- ganda Model? In: Pedro-Carañana, J., Broudy, D. and Klaehn, J. (eds.). The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness. Pp. 93–106. London: University of Westminster Press.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Supreme Court of the United States ______
    No. 13-58 In the Supreme Court of the United States ______ IN RE ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER, Petitioner _______ On Petition for a Writ of Mandamus and Prohibition, Or a Writ of Certiorari, to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court _______ AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF FORMER MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH COMMITTEE AND LAW PROFESSORS IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONERS _______ LAURA K. DONOHUE *ERWIN CHEMERINSKY Professor of Law *Counsel of Record Georgetown Law Dean, Distinguished 600 New Jersey Ave., NW Professor of Law Washington, DC 20001 Raymond Pryke (202) 662-9455 Professor of First [email protected] Amendment Law n.edu University of California, Irvine School of Law (949) 824-7722 [email protected] .edu QUESTION PRESENTED Did the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court exceed its authority to authorize foreign intelligence surveillance under 50 U.S.C. §1861, when it directed Verizon Business Network Services to provide, on an ongoing basis, all call detail records of communications wholly within the United States to the National Security Agency? i TABLE OF CONTENTS IDENTITY AND INTEREST OF AMICUS CURIAE ....................................................................... 1 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT .................................... 5 ARGUMENT ............................................................... 6 I. Congress introduced the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to prevent the NSA and other intelligence agencies from engaging in broad domestic surveillance ............................................ 6 A. The NSA has a history of conducting broad domestic surveillance programs under the guise of foreign intelligence ........ 8 1. The NSA understood foreign intelligence to involve the interception of communications conducted wholly or partly outside the United States and not targeted at U.S. Person ... 9 2. Project MINARET, introduced to collect foreign intelligence information, ended up intercepting hundreds of U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Surveillance and Whistle Blowing History of Surveillance
    DR. SARAH ABRAHAM CS349 SURVEILLANCE AND WHISTLE BLOWING HISTORY OF SURVEILLANCE ▸ “Enlightened rulers and good generals who are able to obtain intelligent agents as spies are certain for great achievements.” — Sun Tzu ▸ Spies and intelligence networks have historically been used across a multitude of civilizations ▸ Ciphers and codes common for transmitting sensitive information ▸ Caesar cipher named after Julius Caesar, who used it in his correspondence ▸ In such networks agents would: ▸ Target and monitor the activities of individuals ▸ Plant information/engage in activities to gather information CIPHER BUREAU: ORIGINS OF US MODERN INTELLIGENCE ▸ Cipher Bureau of Military Intelligence created during WWI and headed by Herbert Yardley ▸ Used to break German codes during the war ▸ Aided diplomatic negotiations with Japan in 1922 ▸ Used Western Union and other telegraph companies to gain information entering and leaving the country ▸ Secretary of State closed the agency in 1929 ▸ In 1931 Yardley published activities of Cipher Bureau for US citizens and the world to see OTHER AGENCIES FOLLOW… ▸ In 1930, US Army formed Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) for code-breaking outside of State Department ▸ Focused on monitoring the Japanese Empire ▸ Cracked Japan’s Purple cipher and JN-25 code (used during Midway) ▸ President Truman reorganized SIS into the National Security Agency (NSA) in 1952 NSA’S COLD WAR ACTIVITIES ▸ Monitored correspondence of US citizens under program called Project SHAMROCK ▸ Monitored communications of civil rights leaders
    [Show full text]
  • Infiltrate the NSA to Re-Establish the Balance Between Security and Civil Liberties, We Don’T Just Need More Laws
    Issue #35, Winter 2015 Infiltrate the NSA To re-establish the balance between security and civil liberties, we don’t just need more laws. We need more civil libertarians in the security state. Margo Schlanger The story of John Ashcroft and James Comey’s hospital-bed heroics has by now been told many times. On March 10, 2004, President Bush’s White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales, and chief of staff, Andrew Card, went to the intensive care unit of George Washington University Hospital to try to persuade the ill attorney general, Ashcroft, to sign off on continuing massive collection of Americans’ Internet “metadata,” a program started in October 2001. Comey, then the deputy attorney general, had refused to reauthorize the program; its most recent authorization was scheduled to expire the next day. Comey got to his boss first, and Ashcroft refused to sign. Though pushed hard by Gonzales and Card, and also by Vice President Dick Cheney and his counsel, David Addington, Comey and several of his Department of Justice (DOJ) colleagues stood their ground and declined to ratify this domestic metadata collection based on the President’s bare say-so. Once leaked in 2006, this 2004 incident was the subject of much admiring press for the DOJ lawyers. It is part of what won Comey, a Republican, his current appointment by President Obama to head the FBI. But what did this incident actually accomplish? The truth is that the dramatics were entirely out of scale to the actual, limited result, which was a pause—not a stop—to the challenged data collection.
    [Show full text]
  • A Review of Intelligence Oversight Failure: NSA Programs That Affected Americans
    A Review of Intelligence Oversight Failure: NSA Programs that Affected Americans by Major Dave Owen The views and opinions expressed here are those of the as the State Department or the Central Intelligence author and do not necessarily refl ect the offi cial policy Agency (CIA).3 or position of any agency of the U.S. Government. President Truman created NSA in 1952 to remedy Introduction this situation. He issued a classifi ed memorandum After World War II, the National Security Agency to do this, and followed it up with National Security (NSA) established and directed three programs that Council Intelligence Directive 9. This classifi ed di- deliberately targeted American citizens’ private com- rective explicitly stated that the NSA would be the munications. Despite ethical and legal concerns, “executive agent” for foreign communications intel- these programs continued through the early 1970s. ligence for the entire government.4 However, this di- This intelligence oversight failure, once it was iden- rective did not establish any limitations within the tifi ed, resulted in a thorough U.S. Senate investi- foreign SIGINT mission. Even as late as the 1970s, gation. Out of this investigation came the 1976 according to the NSA’s general counsel, “no ex- document “NSA Surveillance Affecting Americans,” isting statutes control, limit, or defi ne the signals which led to legal restrictions on the agency and ro- intelligence activities of the NSA.”5 Since foreign in- bust intelligence oversight processes to ensure that telligence can be derived from American citizens’ it continued to adhere to these restrictions.1 This private communications, and since domestic issues article will summarize the programs that led to this can affect foreign policy (requiring ‘foreign intelli- situation, review the legal decisions that affected gence’ support for these domestic issues), this situ- these programs, and discuss the impact that is still ation resulted in minimal control of NSA activities.
    [Show full text]