The NSA files decoded
The NSA, founded in 1952, is the USA’s signals intelligence agency, and the biggest of the country’s myriad intelligence organisations. It has a strict focus on overseas, rather than domestic, surveillance. It is the phone and internet interception specialist of the USA, and is also responsible for codebreaking.
It is run by General Keith Alexander, who answers to Obama’s Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. The NSA is overseen by congressional intelligence committees, who have security clearance, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which sits in secret.
GCHQ – an acronym of Government Communications Headquarters – is the UK’s answer to NSA, and its predecessor organisations were founded in 1919. The very existence of the agency was not officially admitted until 1983. It is permitted to spy in the interests of national security, preventing serious crime, or defending the UK’s economic interests. The agency answers to foreign secretary William Hague, and has parliamentary oversight from the Intelligence and Security Committee, chaired by Sir Malcolm Rifkind. In fact, the Guardian revelations show that it vastly exceeded this remit.
The Snowden files reveal a number of mass-surveillance programs undertaken by the NSA and GCHQ. The agencies are able to access information stored by major US technology companies, often without individual warrants, as well as mass-intercepting data from the fibre-optic cables which make up the backbone of global phone and internet networks. The agencies have also worked to undermine the security standards upon which the internet, commerce and banking rely.
The revelations have raised concerns about growing domestic surveillance, the scale of global monitoring, trustworthiness of the technology sector, whether the agencies can keep their information secure, and the quality of the laws and oversight keeping the agencies in check. The agency is also required to abide by the European Convention on Human Rights... read more:
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