The federal government has been secretly collecting information on foreigners overseas for nearly six years from the nation?s largest internet companies like Google, Facebook and, most recently,
Apple, in search of national security threats, the director of national intelligence confirmed on Thursday night.
The confirmation of the classified programme came just hours after government officials acknowledged a separate seven-year effort to sweep up records of telephone calls inside the US. Together, the unfolding revelations opened a window into the growth of government surveillance that began under the Bush administration after the attacks of 9/11, and has clearly been embraced and even expanded under the Obama administration.
Government officials defended the two surveillance initiatives as authorised under law, known to Congress and necessary to guard the country against terrorist threats. But an array of civil liberties advocates and libertarian conservatives said the disclosures provided the most detailed confirmation yet of what has been long suspected about what the critics call an alarming and ever-widening surveillance state.
The internet surveillance programme collects data from online providers including e-mail, chat services, videos, photos, stored data, file transfers, video conferencing and log-ins, according to classified documents obtained and posted by The Washington Post and then The Guardian on Thursday afternoon. In confirming its existence, officials said the programme, called Prism, is authorised under a foreign intelligence law that was recently renewed by Congress, and maintained that it minimises the collection and retention of information ?incidentally acquired? about Americans and permanent residents. Several of the internet companies said they did not allow the government open-ended access to their servers but complied with specific lawful requests for information. ?It cannot be used to intentionally target any US citizen, any other US person, or anyone located within the US,? James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said in a statement, describing the law underlying the programme. ?Information collected under this programme is among the most important and valuable intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from threats.?
The Prism programme grew out of the National Security Agency?s desire several years ago to begin addressing the agency?s need to keep up with the explosive growth of social media, according to people familiar with the matter.
The dual revelations, in rapid succession, also suggested that someone with access to high-level intelligence secrets had decided to unveil them in the midst of furor over leak investigations. Both were reported by The Guardian, while The Post, relying upon the same presentation, almost simultaneously reported the internet company tapping. The Post said a disenchanted intelligence official provided it with the documents to expose government overreach.
Before the disclosure of the internet company surveillance programme on Thursday, the White House and Congressional leaders defended the phone programme, saying it was legal and necessary to protect security.
The Guardian and The Post posted slides from the 41-page presentation about the internet programme, listing the companies involved ? which included Yahoo, Microsoft, Paltalk, AOL, Skype and YouTube ? and the dates they joined the programme, as well as listing the types of information collected under it. The reports came as President Obama was travelling to meet President Xi Jinping of China at an estate in Southern California, a meeting intended to address among other things complaints about Chinese cyberattacks and spying. Now that conversation will take place amid discussion of America?s own vast surveillance operations.
NYT