The National Security Agency/Central Security Service The Central Security Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, established in 1972 by a Presidential Directive to promote full partnership between the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Service Cryptologic Elements (SCE) of the United States Armed Forces (NSA/CSS) is a cryptologic Cryptography is the practice and study of hiding information. In modern times cryptography is considered a branch of both mathematics and computer science and is affiliated closely with information theory, computer security and engineering. Cryptography is used in applications present in technologically advanced societies; examples include the intelligence Intelligence refers to discrete information with currency and relevance, and the abstraction, evaluation, and understanding of such information for its accuracy and value. Sometimes called "active data" or "active intelligence", intelligence typically regards the current plans, decisions, and actions of people, as these may agency of the United States government The Federal Government of the United States is the central United States governmental body, established by the United States Constitution. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. Through a system of separation of powers and the system of "checks and balances," each of these branches has some, administered as part of the United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military. The organization and functions of the DOD are set forth in Title 10 of the United States Code. Created on November 4, 1952 by President Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States (1945–1953). As the 34th vice president, he succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died less than three months after he began his fourth term, it is responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence Signals intelligence is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether between people (i.e., COMINT or communications intelligence) or between machines (i.e., ELINT or electronic intelligence), or mixtures of the two. As sensitive information is often encrypted, signals intelligence often involves the use of cryptanalysis. However,, which involves cryptanalysis Cryptanalysis is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information which is normally required to do so. Typically, this involves finding a secret key. In non-technical language, this is the practice of codebreaking or cracking the code, although these phrases also have a specialised. It is also responsible for protecting U.S. government communications and information systems In a general sense, the term Information System refers to a system of people, data records and activities that process the data and information in an organization, and it includes the organization's manual and automated processes. In a narrow sense, the term information system (or computer-based information system) refers to the specific from similar agencies elsewhere, which involves cryptography Cryptography is the practice and study of hiding information. Modern cryptography intersects the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, and engineering. Applications of cryptography include ATM cards, computer passwords, and electronic commerce. As of 2008, NSA has been directed to help monitor U.S. federal agency computer networks A computer network is a group of interconnected computers. Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics. This article provides a general overview of some types and categories and also presents the basic components of a network to protect them against attacks.[1] NSA is directed by a lieutenant general In the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general. Lieutenant general is equivalent to the rank of vice admiral in the other uniformed services or vice admiral Vice Admiral is a naval rank equivalent to Lieutenant General in seniority. A Vice Admiral is typically senior to a Rear Admiral and junior to an Admiral. In many navies, Vice Admiral is a three star rank. NSA is a key component of the U.S. Intelligence Community The United States Intelligence Community is a cooperative federation of 16 separate United States government agencies that work separately and together to conduct intelligence activities considered necessary for the conduct of foreign relations and the protection of the national security of the United States. Member organizations of the IC include, which is headed by the Director of National Intelligence Under 50 U.S.C. § 403-3a, it is desired that either the Director or the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence be an active duty commissioned officer in the armed forces or have training or experience in military intelligence activities and requirements. No more than one officer can hold either position during the same term. The. The Central Security Service The Central Security Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, established in 1972 by a Presidential Directive to promote full partnership between the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Service Cryptologic Elements (SCE) of the United States Armed Forces is a co-located agency created to coordinate intelligence activities and co-operation between NSA and U.S. military cryptanalysis agencies. NSA's work is limited to communications intelligence; it does not perform field or human intelligence HUMINT, a syllabic abbreviation of the words HUMan INTelligence, refers to intelligence gathering by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines such as SIGINT, IMINT and MASINT. NATO defines HUMINT as "a category of intelligence derived from information collected and provided by human activities. By law, NSA's intelligence gathering is limited to foreign communications.

Contents

Organization

The National Security Agency is divided into two major missions: the Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID), which produces foreign signals intelligence Signals intelligence is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether between people (i.e., COMINT or communications intelligence) or between machines (i.e., ELINT or electronic intelligence), or mixtures of the two. As sensitive information is often encrypted, signals intelligence often involves the use of cryptanalysis. However, information, and the Information Assurance Directorate (IAD), which protects U.S. information systems.[2]

Role

NSA's eavesdropping Eavesdropping is the act of surreptitiously listening to a private conversation. This is commonly thought to be unethical and there is an old adage that eavesdroppers seldom hear anything good of themselves mission includes radio Radio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space. Information is carried by systematically changing some property of the radiated waves, such as broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults, both from various organizations and individuals, the Internet The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite . It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private and public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, and, telephone calls, and other intercepted forms of communication. Its secure communications mission includes military A military organization is an organization which exists to fight wars. It has a legalized and legitimized use of violence in the interests of the state which it serves. In a democracy or other political system run in the public interest, it is a public force, diplomatic Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war, economics and culture. International treaties are, and all other sensitive, confidential or secret government communications. It has been described as the world's largest single employer of mathematicians The publication of new discoveries in mathematics continues at an immense rate in hundreds of scientific journals. One of the most exciting recent developments was the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem by Andrew Wiles, following 350 years of the brightest mathematical minds attempting to settle the problem,[3] and the owner of the single largest group of supercomputers A supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. Supercomputers introduced in the 1960s were designed primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation , and led the market into the 1970s until Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research[clarification needed], but it has tried to keep a low profile. For many years, its existence was not even acknowledged by the U.S. government, earning it the nickname, "No Such Agency" (NSA).

Because of its listening task, NSA/CSS has been heavily involved in cryptanalytic Cryptanalysis is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information which is normally required to do so. Typically, this involves finding a secret key. In non-technical language, this is the practice of codebreaking or cracking the code, although these phrases also have a specialised research, continuing the work of predecessor agencies which had broken many World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all of the great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history codes In cryptography, a code is a method used to transform a message into an obscured form, preventing those who do not possess special information, or key, required to apply the transform from understanding what is actually transmitted. The usual method is to use a codebook with a list of common phrases or words matched with a codeword. Encoded and ciphers In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption and decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts are distinct in cryptography. In classical cryptography, (see, for instance, Purple In the history of cryptography, 97-shiki ōbun inji-ki ("System 97 Printing Machine for European Characters") or Angōki Taipu-B (暗号機 タイプB) ("Type B Cipher Machine"), codenamed Purple by the United States, was a diplomatic cryptographic machine used by the Japanese Foreign Office just before and during World War II, Venona project The Venona project was a long-running and highly secret collaboration between intelligence agencies of the United States and United Kingdom that involved the cryptanalysis of messages sent by several intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, mostly during World War II. There were known to be at least 13 code words for this effort used by the U.S, and JN-25).

In 2004, NSA Central Security Service The Central Security Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, established in 1972 by a Presidential Directive to promote full partnership between the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Service Cryptologic Elements (SCE) of the United States Armed Forces and the National Cyber Security Division Formed from the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, the National Infrastructure Protection Center, the Federal Computer Incident Response Center, and the National Communications System, NCSD opened in June 6, 2003 charged with improving the United States defense against Internet-based attacks of the Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security is a Cabinet department of the United States federal government with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the U.S. from terrorist attacks and responding to natural disasters (DHS) agreed to expand NSA Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education Program.[4]

As part of the National Security Presidential Directive 54/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23 (NSPD 54), signed on January 8, 2008 by President Bush, the NSA became the lead agency to monitor and protect all of the federal government's computer networks from cyber-terrorism.[1]

Facilities

NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland

Headquarters for the National Security Agency are at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland Maryland ( /ˈmɛrələnd/ ) is a state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia to the south and west, Pennsylvania to the north, and Delaware to the east. Historically it was part of the Chesapeake Colonies where planters cultivated tobacco as a cash crop dependent on, about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Baltimore Baltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the state of Maryland. Baltimore is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore City in order to distinguish it from surrounding Baltimore County. Founded in 1729, Baltimore is a. The NSA has its own exit off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway labeled "NSA Employees Only." The scale of the operations at the NSA is hard to determine from unclassified data; some 18,000 parking spaces are visible in photos of the site. In 2006, the Baltimore Sun The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. The Sun was founded on May 17, 1837, by printer Arunah Shepherdson Abell and two associates. The Abell family owned the paper through 1910, when the Black family reported that the NSA was at risk of electrical overload because of insufficient internal electrical infrastructure at Fort Meade to support the amount of equipment being installed. This problem was apparently recognized in the 1990s but not made a priority, and "now the agency's ability to keep its operations going is threatened."[5] Its secure government communications work has involved the NSA in numerous technology areas, including the design of specialized communications hardware and software, production of dedicated semiconductors Silicon is used to create most semiconductors commercially. Dozens of other materials are used, including germanium, gallium arsenide, and silicon carbide. A pure semiconductor is often called an “intrinsic” semiconductor. The conductivity, or ability to conduct, of semiconductor material can be drastically changed by adding other elements, (at the Ft. Meade chip fabrication plant), and advanced cryptography Cryptography is the practice and study of hiding information. Modern cryptography intersects the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, and engineering. Applications of cryptography include ATM cards, computer passwords, and electronic commerce research. The agency contracts with the private sector in the fields of research and equipment.

In addition to its Ft. Meade headquarters, the NSA has facilities at the Texas Cryptology Center in San Antonio, Texas San Antonio was named for the Portuguese St. Anthony, whose feast day is on June 13, when a Spanish expedition stopped in the area in 1691. Located in the northern part of South Texas and the American Southwest, San Antonio is the epicenter of Tejano culture and Texas tourism. Famous for Spanish missions, the Alamo, the River Walk, the Tower of; at Fort Gordon Fort Gordon is a United States Army Installation and the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps and Signal Center and was once the home of "The Provost Marshal General School" . The fort is located in Richmond, Jefferson, McDuffie, and Columbia counties, Georgia. The main componment of the post is the Advanced Individual, Georgia Georgia ( /ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ ) is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788. It declared its, and elsewhere. A USD $1.9 billion data center is planned for Camp Williams, Utah The State of Utah (pronounced /ˈjuːtɔː/ or /ˈjuːtɑː/ ) is a western state of the United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the Union on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80 percent of Utah's 2,736,424 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering around Salt Lake City. In contrast, vast expanses of the state are nearly uninhabited,.[6]

National Computer Security Center

The National Computer Security Center, once part of the National Security Agency, was established in 1981 and was responsible for testing and evaluating computer equipment for use in high security and/or confidential applications. NCSC was also responsible for publishing the Orange Book Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria is a United States Government Department of Defense (DoD) standard that sets basic requirements for assessing the effectiveness of computer security controls built into a computer system. The TCSEC was used to evaluate, classify and select computer systems being considered for the processing, storage and and Red Book detailing trusted computing and network platform specifications. The two works are more formally known as the Trusted Computing System Evaluation Criteria and Trusted Network Interpretation, part of the Rainbow Series, however, they have largely been replaced by the Common Criteria The Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation is an international standard (ISO/IEC 15408) for computer security certification. It is currently in version 3.1.

History

The National Security Agency can be traced to the May 20, 1949, creation of the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA). This organization was originally established within the U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military. The organization and functions of the DOD are set forth in Title 10 of the United States Code under the command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a group of military leaders in the United States armed forces who advise the civilian government of the United States. The JCS is defined by statute and consists of a Chairman and Vice Chairman appointed by the President, and the Chiefs of service from each of the four major branches of the military. The AFSA was to direct the communications and electronic intelligence activities of the U.S. military intelligence This is achieved by providing an analysis of available data from a wide range of sources, including forecast environmental changes , and information that is indicative of possible opposing force intentions units: the Army Security Agency, the Naval Security Group, and the Air Force Security Service. But the agency had little power and lacked a centralized coordination mechanism. The creation of NSA resulted from a December 10, 1951, memo sent by CIA The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is the successor of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed, during World War II, to coordinate espionage activities between the branches of the US military services. The National Security Act of 1947 established the CIA, affording it " Director Walter Bedell Smith to James S. Lay, Executive Secretary of the National Security Council.[7] The memo observed that "control over, and coordination of, the collection and processing of Communications Intelligence had proved ineffective" and recommended a survey of communications intelligence activities. The proposal was approved on December 13, 1951, and the study authorized on December 28, 1951. The report was completed by June 13, 1952. Generally known as the "Brownell Committee Report," after committee chairman Herbert Brownell, it surveyed the history of U.S. communications intelligence activities and suggested the need for a much greater degree of coordination and direction at the national level. As the change in the security agency's name indicated, the role of NSA was extended beyond the armed forces.

The creation of NSA was authorized in a letter written by President Harry S. Truman in June 1952. The agency was formally established through a revision of National Security Council Intelligence Directive (NSCID) 9 on October 24, 1952,[7] and officially came into existence on November 4, 1952. President Truman's letter was itself classified and remained unknown to the public for more than a generation.

Insignia

The NSA's insignia.

The heraldic insignia of NSA consists of a bald eagle facing its right, grasping a key in its talons, representing NSA's clutch on security as well as the mission to protect and gain access to secrets. The eagle is set on a background of blue and its breast features a blue shield supported by thirteen bands of red and white. The surrounding white circular border features "National Security Agency" around the top and "United States of America" underneath, with two five-pointed silver stars between the two phrases. The current NSA insignia has been in use since 1965, when then-Director, LTG Marshall S. Carter (USA) ordered the creation of a device to represent the Agency.[8]

Effect on non-governmental cryptography

NSA has been involved in debates about public policy, both indirectly as a behind-the-scenes adviser to other departments, and directly during and after Vice Admiral Bobby Ray Inman's directorship. NSA was a major player in the debates of the 1990s regarding the export of cryptography. Restrictions on export were reduced but not eliminated in 1996.

Data Encryption Standard (DES)

Main article: Data Encryption Standard

NSA was embroiled in some minor controversy concerning its involvement in the creation of the Data Encryption Standard (DES), a standard and public block cipher algorithm used by the U.S. government and banking community. During the development of DES by IBM in the 1970s, NSA recommended changes to some details of the design. There was suspicion that these changes had weakened the algorithm sufficiently to enable the agency to eavesdrop if required, including speculation that a critical component—the so-called S-boxes—had been altered to insert a "backdoor" and that the reduction in key length might have made it feasible for NSA to discover DES keys using massive computing power. It has since been observed that the S-boxes in DES are particularly resilient against differential cryptanalysis, a technique which was not publicly discovered until the late 1980s, but which was known to the IBM DES team. The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence reviewed NSA's involvement, and concluded that while the agency had provided some assistance, it had not tampered with the design.[9][10]

Clipper chip

Main article: Clipper chip

Because of concerns that widespread use of strong cryptography would hamper government use of wiretaps, NSA proposed the concept of key escrow in 1993 and introduced the Clipper chip that would offer stronger protection than DES but would allow access to encrypted data by authorized law enforcement officials. The proposal was strongly opposed and key escrow requirements ultimately went nowhere. However, NSA's Fortezza hardware-based encryption cards, created for the Clipper project, are still used within government, and NSA ultimately published the design of the SKIPJACK cipher (but not the key exchange protocol) used on the cards.

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)

Main article: Advanced Encryption Standard

Possibly because of previous controversy, the involvement of NSA in the selection of a successor to DES, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), was initially limited to hardware performance testing (see AES competition). NSA has subsequently certified AES for protection of classified information (for at most two levels, e.g. SECRET information in an unclassified environment) when used in NSA-approved systems. The widely-used SHA hash functions were designed by NSA.

Dual EC DRBG random number generator

Main article: Dual EC DRBG

NSA promoted the inclusion of a random number generator called Dual EC DRBG in the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's 2007 guidelines. This led to speculation of a backdoor which would allow NSA access to data encrypted by systems using that random number generator.[11]

Academic research

NSA has invested many millions of dollars in academic research under grant code prefix MDA904, resulting in over 3,000 papers (as of 2007-10-11). NSA/CSS has, at times, attempted to restrict the publication of academic research into cryptography; for example, the Khufu and Khafre block ciphers were voluntarily withheld in response to an NSA request to do so.

Patents

NSA has the ability to file for a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under gag order. Unlike normal patents, these are not revealed to the public and do not expire. However, if the Patent Office receives an application for an identical patent from a third party, they will reveal NSA's patent and officially grant it to NSA for the full term on that date.[12]

One of NSA's published patents describes a method of geographically locating an individual computer site in an Internet-like network, based on the latency of multiple network connections.[13]

NSA programs

ECHELON

Main article: ECHELON

NSA/CSS, in combination with the equivalent agencies in the United Kingdom (Government Communications Headquarters), Canada (Communications Security Establishment), Australia (Defence Signals Directorate), and New Zealand (Government Communications Security Bureau), otherwise known as the UKUSA group[14], is widely reported to be in command of the operation of the so-called ECHELON system. Its capabilities are suspected to include the ability to monitor a large proportion of the world's transmitted civilian telephone, fax and data traffic, according to a December 16, 2005 article in the New York Times.[15]

Technically, almost all modern telephone, internet, fax and satellite communications are exploitable due to recent advances in technology and the 'open air' nature of much of the radio communications around the world. NSA's presumed collection operations have generated much criticism, possibly stemming from the assumption that NSA/CSS represents an infringement of Americans' privacy. However, NSA's United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18 (USSID 18) strictly prohibits the interception or collection of information about "...U.S. persons, entities, corporations or organizations..." without explicit written legal permission from the United States Attorney General, when the subject is located abroad, or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court when within U.S. Borders.[16] The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that intelligence agencies cannot conduct surveillance against American citizens. There are a few extreme circumstances where collecting on a U.S. entity is allowed without a USSID 18 waiver, such as with civilian distress signals, or sudden emergencies such as the September 11, 2001 attacks; however, the USA PATRIOT Act has significantly changed privacy legality.

There have been alleged violations of USSID 18 that occurred in violation of NSA's strict charter prohibiting such acts.[citation needed] In addition, ECHELON is considered with indignation by citizens of countries outside the UKUSA alliance, with numerous allegations that the United States government uses it for motives other than its national security, including political and industrial espionage.[17][18] Examples include the gear-less wind turbine technology designed by the German firm Enercon[19][20] and the speech technology developed by the Belgian firm Lernout & Hauspie. An article in the Baltimore Sun reported in 1995 that aerospace company Airbus lost a $6 billion contract with Saudi Arabia in 1994 after NSA reported that Airbus officials had been bribing Saudi officials to secure the contract.[21][22] The chartered purpose of NSA/CSS is solely to acquire significant foreign intelligence information pertaining to National Security or ongoing military intelligence operations.

In his book Firewall, Andy McNab speculates that the UKUSA agreement is designed to enable NSA, GCHQ, and other equivalent organizations to gather intelligence on each other's citizens. For example, NSA cannot legally conduct surveillance on American citizens, but GCHQ might do it for them.

Domestic activity

NSA's mission, as set forth in Executive Order 12333, is to collect information that constitutes "foreign intelligence or counterintelligence" while not "acquiring information concerning the domestic activities of United States persons". NSA has declared that it relies on the FBI to collect information on foreign intelligence activities within the borders of the USA, while confining its own activities within the USA to the embassies and missions of foreign nations.

NSA's domestic surveillance activities are limited by the requirements imposed by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; however, these protections do not apply to non-U.S. persons located outside of U.S. borders, so the NSA's foreign surveillance efforts are subject to far fewer limitations under U.S. law.[23] The specific requirements for domestic surveillance operations are contained in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), which does not extend protection to non-U.S. citizens located outside of U.S. territory.[23]

These activities, especially the publicly acknowledged domestic telephone tapping and call database programs, have prompted questions about the extent of the NSA's activities and concerns about threats to privacy and the rule of law.

Wiretapping programs

Domestic wiretapping under Richard Nixon
Further information: Church Committee

In the years after President Richard Nixon resigned, there were several investigations of suspected misuse of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and NSA facilities. Senator Frank Church headed a Senate investigating committee (the Church Committee) which uncovered previously unknown activity, such as a CIA plot (ordered by President John F. Kennedy) to assassinate Fidel Castro. The investigation also uncovered NSA's wiretaps on targeted American citizens. After the Church Committee hearings, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 became law, limiting circumstances under which domestic surveillance was allowed.

ThinThread wiretapping and data mining
Main article: ThinThread

A wiretapping program named ThinThread was tested in the late 1990s, but never put into operation. ThinThread contained both advanced data mining capabilities and built-in privacy protections. These privacy protections were abandoned in the post-9/11 effort by President George W. Bush to improve the intelligence community's responsiveness to terrorism. The research done under this program may have contributed to the technology used in later systems.[24]

Warrantless wiretaps under George W. Bush
Main article: NSA warrantless surveillance controversy

On December 16, 2005, the New York Times reported that, under White House pressure and with an executive order from President George W. Bush, the National Security Agency, in an attempt to thwart terrorism, had been tapping the telephones of select individuals in the U.S. calling persons outside the country, without obtaining warrants from the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a secret court created for that purpose under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).[25]

One such surveillance program, authorized by the United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18 of President George Bush, was the Highlander Project undertaken for the National Security Agency by the United States Army 513th Military Intelligence Brigade. NSA relayed telephone (including cell phone) conversations obtained from both ground, airborne, and satellite monitoring stations to various U.S. Army Signal Intelligence Officers, including the 201st Military Intelligence Battalion. Conversations of citizens of the United States were intercepted, along with those of other nations.[1]

Proponents of the surveillance program claim that the President has executive authority to order such action, arguing that laws such as FISA are overridden by the President's Constitutional powers. In addition, some argued that FISA was implicitly overridden by a subsequent statute, the Authorization for Use of Military Force, although the Supreme Court's ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld deprecates this view. In the August 2006 case ACLU v. NSA, U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor concluded that NSA's warrantless surveillance program was both illegal and unconstitutional. On July 6, 2007 the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Judge Taylor's ruling, reversing her findings.[26]

AT&T Internet monitoring
Further information: Hepting v. AT&T, Mark Klein, NSA warrantless surveillance controversy

In May 2006, Mark Klein, a former AT&T employee, alleged that his company had cooperated with NSA in installing hardware to monitor network communications including traffic between American citizens.[27]

Wiretapping under Barack Obama

The New York Times reported in 2009 that the NSA is intercepting communications of American citizens including a Congressman, although the Justice Department believed that the NSA had corrected its errors.[28] United States Attorney General Eric Holder resumed the wiretapping according to his understanding of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 which Congress passed in July 2008 but without explaining what had occurred.[29]

Transaction data mining

NSA is reported to use its computing capability to analyze "transactional" data that it regularly acquires from other government agencies, which gather it under their own jurisdictional authorities. As part of this effort, NSA now monitors huge volumes of records of domestic emails and Internet searches as well as bank transfers, credit-card transactions and travel and telephone records, according to current and former intelligence officials interviewed by the WSJ.[30]

In fiction

Main article: NSA in fiction

Since the existence of NSA has become more widely known in the past few decades, and particularly since the 1990s, the agency has regularly been portrayed in spy fiction. Many such portrayals grossly exaggerate the organization's involvement in the more sensational activities of intelligence agencies. The agency now plays a role in numerous books, films, television shows, and computer games.

Staff

Main article: Director of the National Security Agency

Directors

Deputy Directors

Notable cryptanalysts

NSA encryption systems

Main article: NSA encryption systems STU-III secure telephones on display at the National Cryptologic Museum

NSA is responsible for the encryption-related components in these systems:

NSA has specified Suite A and Suite B cryptographic algorithms to be used in U.S. government systems; the Suite B algorithms are a subset of those previously specified by NIST and are expected to serve for most information protection purposes, while the Suite A algorithms are secret and are intended for especially high levels of protection.

Some past NSA SIGINT activities

See also

United States portal
Law enforcement/Law enforcement topics portal

NSA computers

References

  1. ^ a b Ellen Nakashima (2008-01-26). "Bush Order Expands Network Monitoring: Intelligence Agencies to Track Intrusions". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/25/AR2008012503261_pf.html. Retrieved on 2008-02-09.
  2. ^ "The National Security Agency Frequently Asked Questions". National Security Agency. http://www.nsa.gov/about/about00018.cfm#1. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  3. ^ Introduction to NSA/CSS, NSA. Retrieved 15 May 2006.
  4. ^ NSA Public and Media Affairs. National Security Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Form New Partnership to Increase National Focus on Cyber Security Education. Press release. http://www.nsa.gov/releases/relea00077.cfm. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  5. ^ Gorman, Siobhan. "NSA risking electrical overload". http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.nsapower06aug06,0,5137448.story?coll=bal-home-headlines. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
  6. ^ LaPlante, Matthew D. (July 2, 2009). "Spies like us: NSA to build huge facility in Utah". Salt Lake Tribune (MediaNews Group). http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12735293. Retrieved on 2009-07-05.
  7. ^ a b In Body of Secrets (Anchor Books 2002), footnote on p. 30, James Bamford mentions to a CIA, Top Secret /Codeword memorandum "Proposed Survey of Intelligence Activities" (December 10, 1951). Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  8. ^ "The National Security Agency Insignia". National Security Agency. http://www.nsa.gov/history/histo00018.cfm. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  9. ^ Davies, D.W.; W.L. Price (1989). Security for computer networks, 2nd ed.. John Wiley & Sons.
  10. ^ Robert Sugarman (editor) (July 1979). "On foiling computer crime". IEEE Spectrum (IEEE).
  11. ^ Bruce Schneier (2007-11-15). "Did NSA Put a Secret Backdoor in New Encryption Standard?". Wired News. http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2007/11/securitymatters_1115. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  12. ^ Schneier, Bruce (1996). Applied Cryptography, Second Edition. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 609–610. ISBN 0-471-11709-9.
  13. ^ "United States Patent 6,947,978 - Method for geolocating logical network addresses.". United States Patent and Trademark Office. 2005-09-20. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F6947978. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  14. ^ Richelson, Jeffrey T.; Ball, Desmond (1985). The Ties That Bind: Intelligence Cooperation Between the UKUSA Countries. London: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-04-327092-1
  15. ^ James Risen and Eric Lichtblau (December 16, 2005). "Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html?ei=5088&en=e32070df8d623ac1&ex=1292389200&pagewanted=print. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  16. ^ National Security Agency. United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18. National Security Agency July 27, 1993. Last access date March 23, 2007
  17. ^ "European Parliament Report on ECHELON" (PDF). July 2001. http://www.fas.org/irp/program/process/rapport_echelon_en.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  18. ^ "Nicky Hager Appearance before the European Parliament ECHELON Committee". April 2001. http://cryptome.org/echelon-nh.htm. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  19. ^ Die Zeit: 40/1999 "Verrat unter Freunden" ("Treachery among friends", German), available at archiv.zeit.de
  20. ^ Report A5-0264/2001 of the European Parliament (English), available at European Parliament website
  21. ^ "BBC News". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/820758.stm. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  22. ^ "Interception capabilities 2000". http://www.cyber-rights.org/interception/stoa/ic2kreport.htm#Report. Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
  23. ^ a b David Alan Jordan. Decrypting the Fourth Amendment: Warrantless NSA Surveillance and the Enhanced Expectation of Privacy Provided by Encrypted Voice over Internet Protocol. Boston College Law Review. May, 2006. Last access date January 23, 2007
  24. ^ Gorman, Siobhan (2006-05-17). "NSA killed system that sifted phone data legally". Baltimore Sun (Tribune Company (Chicago, IL)). http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.nsa18may18,1,5386811.story?ctrack=1&cset=true. Retrieved on 2008-03-07. "The privacy protections offered by ThinThread were also abandoned in the post-September 11 push by the president for a faster response to terrorism."
  25. ^ James Risen & Eric Lichtblau (December 16, 2005), Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts, New York Times
  26. ^ 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision
  27. ^ "For Your Eyes Only?". NOW. February 16 2007. http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/307/index.html. on PBS
  28. ^ Lichtblau, Eric and Risen, James (April 15, 2009). "N.S.A.’s Intercepts Exceed Limits Set by Congress". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/us/16nsa.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-15.
  29. ^ Ackerman, Spencer (April 16, 2009). "NSA Revelations Spark Push to Restore FISA". The Washington Independent (Center for Independent Media). http://washingtonindependent.com/39153/nsa-revelations-spark-movement-to-restore-fisa. Retrieved on 2009-04-19.
  30. ^ Gorman, Siobahn (2008-03-10). "NSA's Domestic Spying Grows As Agency Sweeps Up Data". The Wall Street Journal Online. http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120511973377523845.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.

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