Special Source Operations
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Special Source Operations
Special Source Operations (SSO) is a division in the US National Security Agency (NSA) which is responsible for all programs aimed at collecting data from major fiber-optic cables and switches, both inside the US and abroad, and also through corporate partnerships. Its existence was revealed through documents provided by Edward Snowden to media outlets in 2013 and, according to him, it is the "crown jewel" of the NSA. History The program began in 2006, according to one of Snowden's documents, when the NSA was collecting the equivalent of "one Library of Congress every 14.4 seconds". ''The Washington Post'' described the official seal of the SSO division as something "that might have been parody: an eagle with all the world's cables in its grasp." Notable programs The five biggest collection programs of the Special Source Operations division are codenamed:Top Level TelecommunicationsSome numbers about NSA's data collection June 5, 2014 * DANCINGOASIS * SPINNERET * MOONLIGHTPATH * ...
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National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign and domestic intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, specializing in a discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT). The NSA is also tasked with the protection of U.S. communications networks and information systems. The NSA relies on a variety of measures to accomplish its mission, the majority of which are clandestine. The existence of the NSA was not revealed until 1975. The NSA has roughly 32,000 employees. Originating as a unit to decipher coded communications in World War II, it was officially formed as the NSA by President Harry S. Truman in 1952. Between then and the end of the Cold War, it became the largest of the U.S. intelligence organizations in terms of pers ...
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The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, the paper's main news ...
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The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large national audience. Daily broadsheet editions are printed for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The ''Post'' was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. Financier Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy in 1933 and revived its health and reputation, work continued by his successors Katharine and Phil Graham (Meyer's daughter and son-in-law), who bought out several rival publications. The ''Post'' 1971 printing of the Pentagon Papers helped spur opposition to the Vietnam War. Subsequently, in the best-known episode in the newspaper's history, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the American press's investigation into what became known as the Watergate scandal ...
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Edward Snowden
Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and subcontractor. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments and prompted a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy. In 2013, Snowden was hired by an NSA contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton, after previous employment with Dell and the CIA. Snowden says he gradually became disillusioned with the programs with which he was involved, and that he tried to raise his ethical concerns through internal channels but was ignored. On May 20, 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong after leaving his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii, and in early June he revealed thousands of class ...
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PRISM (surveillance Program)
Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary deposit * Prism correction, a component of some eyeglass prescriptions Government * PRISM, a surveillance program run by the US National Security Agency * PRISM (website), an educational portal website for Indiana teachers * Oregon Performance Reporting Information System, a state agency Media and entertainment Publications * Prism (comics), a Marvel Comics character * ''Prism International'', a Canadian literary magazine * ''PRism'' (journal), an academic journal covering public relations * ''ASEE Prism'', the flagship publication of the American Society for Engineering Education * Prism Comics, an organization that supports LGBT people in the comics industry * ''The Prism Pentad'', a series of Dungeons & Dragons novels by Troy Denni ...
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Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and the collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers" suspected of espionage or terrorism.50 USC §1801(b) "'Agent of a foreign power' means— (1) any person other than a United States person, who— (A) acts in the United States as an officer or employee of a foreign power, or as a member of a foreign power as defined in subsection (a)(4), irrespective of whether the person is inside the United States; (B) acts for or on behalf of a foreign power which engages in clandestine intelligence activities in the United States contrary to the interests of the United States, when the circumstances indicate that such person may engage in such activities, or when such person knowingly aids or abets any person in the conduct of such activities or knowingly conspires ...
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MUSCULAR (surveillance Program)
Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscle tissue, and are often known as muscle fibers. The muscle tissue of a skeletal muscle is striated – having a striped appearance due to the arrangement of the sarcomeres. Skeletal muscles are voluntary muscles under the control of the somatic nervous system. The other types of muscle are cardiac muscle which is also striated and smooth muscle which is non-striated; both of these types of muscle tissue are classified as involuntary, or, under the control of the autonomic nervous system. A skeletal muscle contains multiple fascicles – bundles of muscle fibers. Each individual fiber, and each muscle is surrounded by a type of connective tissue layer of fascia. Muscle fibers are formed from the fusion of developmental myoblasts in a proc ...
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Upstream Collection
Upstream collection is a term used by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States for intercepting telephone and Internet traffic from the Internet backbone, meaning major Internet cables and switches, both domestic and foreign. Besides the Upstream collection, NSA also gathers information from Internet communications through arrangements with Internet companies under the program codenamed PRISM. Both the Upstream programs and PRISM are part of the Special Source Operations (SSO) division, which is responsible for collection in cooperation with corporate partners. Programs One of the slides of a presentation about the PRISM-program describes Upstream as "collection of communications on fiber cables and infrastructure as data flows past" and says the Upstream collection is conducted under the following four major surveillance programs: * FAIRVIEW * BLARNEY * STORMBREW * OAKSTAR The FAIRVIEW, BLARNEY and STORMBREW programs are for collecting data at facilities in the ...
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Fairview (surveillance Program)
Fairview is a secret program under which the National Security Agency cooperates with the American telecommunications company AT&T in order to collect phone, internet and e-mail data mainly of foreign countries' citizens at major cable landing stations and switching stations inside the United States. The FAIRVIEW program started in 1985, one year after the Bell breakup.New York TimesAT&T Helped U.S. Spy on Internet on a Vast Scale& Pro PublicaNSA Spying Relies on AT&T’s ‘Extreme Willingness to Help’ August 15, 2015. Corporate partner The "key corporate partner" for cooperation under the FAIRVIEW program was first identified on October 23, 2013, by the ''Washington Post''—quoting NSA historian Matthew Aid—as AT&T. This was confirmed by a joint report by ''ProPublica'' and the ''New York Times'' from August 15, 2015, based upon NSA documents that describe the company as "highly collaborative" and praise the company's "extreme willingness to help". In 2011, NSA spent $ ...
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Blarney (code Name)
BLARNEY is a communications surveillance program of the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States. It started in 1978, operated under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and was expanded after the September 11 attacks. The collection takes place at top-level telecommunications facilities within the United States, choke points through which most traffic will flow, including wireless. This type of surveillance is referred to as Upstream collection. BLARNEY was first brought to public view in a PRISM slide revealed by Edward Snowden. The FY 2013 budget for BLARNEY was $65.96 million. Misrepresentations Initially it was assumed that BLARNEY was the program under which the NSA cooperated with AT&T and that among the tapping facilities were AT&T's Room 641A in San Francisco, California, revealed in 2006 by Mark Klein, and another in New Jersey. However, new NSA documents released on August 15, 2015 show that the cooperation with AT&T takes places under FAIRVIEW, a ...
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STORMBREW
STORMBREW is a secret internet surveillance program of the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States. It was disclosed in the summer of 2013 as part of the leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The FY 2013 budget for STORMBREW was $46.06 million. Scope of the program The program comprises cooperation with a "key corporate partner", which was identified on October 23, 2013 by the Washington Post—quoting NSA historian Matthew Aid—as Verizon. This was confirmed by a joint report by ''Pro Publica'' and ''The New York Times'' from August 15, 2015.New York TimesAT&T Helped U.S. Spy on Internet on a Vast Scale& Pro PublicaNSA Spying Relies on AT&T’s ‘Extreme Willingness to Help’ August 15, 2015. STORMBREW is an umbrella program involving surveillance of telecommunications. It falls under the category of "Upstream collection", meaning that data is pulled directly from fiber-optic cables and top-level communications infrastructure, which allows access to ...
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OAKSTAR
OAKSTAR is a secret internet surveillance program of the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States. It was disclosed in 2013 as part of the leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. OAKSTAR is an umbrella program involving surveillance of telecommunications. It falls under the category of "Upstream collection", meaning that data is pulled directly from fiber-optic cables and top-level communications infrastructure. Upstream collection programs allow access to very high volumes of data, and most of the pre-selection is done by the providers themselves, before the data is passed on to the NSA. The FY 2013 budget for OAKSTAR was $9.41 million. OAKSTAR consists of the following SIGAD A SIGINT Activity Designator (or SIGAD) identifies a signals intelligence (SIGINT) line of collection activity associated with a signals collection station, such as a base or a ship. For example, the SIGAD for Menwith Hill in the UK is USD1000. S ...s: ''Note: SIGADs not otherwise des ...
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