OAKSTAR is a secret internet surveillance program of the

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, collect ...

(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 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. Beside ...

", 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 SIGADs: ''Note: SIGADs not otherwise designated are presumed to operate under the legal authority of Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act (FAA)''

Glossary

*DNI: Digital Network Intelligence *DNR: Dial Number Recognition *MARINA: An NSA Database of Internet metadata *Timing advances: no explanation has been provided in the source material. *Transit Authority: A legal authority that states communications that transit the United States are collectible, provided that both endpoints are foreign.

Media Relating to OAKSTAR and Upstream Collection

File:International Cables- Crop.jpg, Upstream: Map of International Cables File:Transit authority (3) -crop.jpg, Upstream: Transit Authority File:Transit authority map -Crop.jpg, Upstream: Map of Transit Authority File:Unique aspects-crop.jpg, Upstream: Unique Aspects File:Corporate Portfolio (3) -Crop.jpg, Upstream: Corporate Portfolio File:US-3206 MONKEYROCKET -Crop.jpg, OAKSTAR: MONKEYROCKET SIGAD File:US-3217 SHIFTINGSHADOW-crop.jpg, OAKSTSAR: SHIFTINGSHADOW SIGAD File:US-3230 ORANGECRUSH -crop.jpg, OAKSTAR: ORANGECRUSH SIGAD File:US-3247 YACHTSHOP - crop.jpg, OAKSTAR: YACHTSHOP SIGAD File:SilverZephyr.jpg, OAKSTAR:SILVERZEPHYR SIGAD

References

{{Reflist Intelligence agency programmes revealed by Edward Snowden National Security Agency operations Mass surveillance