NSA surveillance: the long fight to close backdoor into US communications
NSA surveillance: the long fight to close backdoor into US communications
Senators' attempt to ensure removal of Americans' data from NSA trawls has been ongoing for more than a year
Spencer Ackerman in Washington
theguardian.com, Friday 9 August 2013 17.37 BST
US senator Ron Wyden has identified a 'backdoor search loophole' in NSA communications databases. Photo: Joshua Roberts/Reuters
For more than a year, two US Senators on the intelligence committee have fought a lonely, unsuccessful battle to prevent the National Security Agency from combing through its vast email and phone records databases for Americans – a battle waged almost entirely in the shadows.
In letters, hearings and one big legislative push last year, Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall have tried to close what Wyden calls a "backdoor search loophole", to ensure that communications from Americans that inadvertently turn up in NSA databases are promptly purged. And they have tried to stop intelligence officials from publicly saying they can do no such thing when, behind closed doors, the officials acknowledge to the Senate intelligence committee they have that authority.
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But information obtained by the Guardian from the whistleblower Edward Snowden suggests the NSA both retains so-called "incidentally collected" American data for longer periods than intelligence officials have indicated, and can search through that American communication data for information – including by name.
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Among them, Alexander wrote, is a section stating: "… nonpublicly available information which is not foreign intelligence information shall not be disseminated in a manner than identifies any US Person, without such person's consent, unless such person's identity is necessary to understand foreign intelligence information or assess its importance."
At least once, the Fisa Court has ruled that the NSA's actual minimization procedures violated the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/senator-ron-wyden-mark-udall-nsa
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