One presentation claims the XKeyscore program covers 'nearly everything a typical user does on the internet'

Representatives from the intelligence community defended the mass surveillance of phone records in a Senate hearing Wednesday

The “Snowden Effect” was in full force on Wednesday as, almost simultaneously, 1) The Guardian released a new report on “X-Keyscore” — the NSA’s search engine for its massive database of emails, chats and other Internet activity; 2) the Director of National Intelligence declassified documents about its bulk collection of phone and email metadata and an example of the court authorization to collect, store and query that data; and 3) the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned members of the intelligence community about the exact nature of these programs and whether they’re worth the invasion of Americans’ privacy. The change in information access since the Edward Snowden leaks is dramatic. Watchdogs who have long had their ears pressed to the ground trying to make out the secretive moves of the intel community are now instead at a festival with multiple stages.

Glenn Greenwald at the Guardian holds up a 2008 Powerpoint presentation  about the X-Keyscore program – which he published nearly in full — as proof that any NSA analyst, including Edward Snowden, could easily query a massive NSA database that holds “nearly everything a user does on the Internet.” Sample searches include looking for intel by email address, phone number, files looked at, search terms used, or even cookies on a person’s computer. A slide on “ finding targets” suggests might put a person in the NSA’s crosshairs: someone “whose language is out of place for the region they are in,” “someone using encryption,” and “someone searching the web for suspicious stuff.” (The presentation again reinforces that anyone going to extreme measures to protect their privacy becomes a target, with use of encryption and VPN mentioned as reasons to seek information on someone.) The Powerpoint looks much like one worked up by a database vendor for a Big Data conference — but with much more references to jihad, Iraq and Osama Bin Laden. It claims “300 terrorists captured” based on intel from the tool.

NSA Director Heckled At Conference As He Asks For Security Community's Understanding

The X-Keyscore program did not come up explicitly during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, though Sen. Patrick Leahy did make an aside about it to Sen. Diane Feinstein, noting that it “might or might not be accurate.” Instead the hearing focused on whether bulk collection of millions of people’s phone records is actually necessary to catch terrorists. In advance of the hearing, the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper released documents from 2009 and 2011 that include an all-caps note that “publicly disclosing any of this information would be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to our nation’s intelligence capabilities and to national security” (So much for that) as well as a July 2013 FISA court order outlining how the NSA can get, store, and search business records data in an unnamed case.

“ODNI knew this hearing was coming for weeks but declassified this material minutes before it started,” complained Sen. Al Franken to the agency’s lawyer Robert Litt, who said the agency had met with the Executive Branch the night before to make the call. “You might have thought about this weeks ago instead of the day of,” replied a peeved Franken. Franken said he planned to introduce legislation that would force more transparency on how the NSA surveillance programs operate.  Last week, an amendment in the House to curb NSA surveillance of phone records was narrowly defeated.

Senator Leahy pushed hard on the witnesses to identify how often the bulk collection of phone records has been key to disrupting a terrorist plot.

“I reviewed all the classified material the NSA sent and I am far from convinced that section 215 helped to thwart or prevent 54 terrorist plots,” said Patrick Leahy, referencing a number put forth by NSA head Keith Alexander.

NSA deputy director John Inglis responded that 13 of those plots had a “homeland nexus” (i.e., were going to happen in the U.S.) and in 12 of them, Section 215 — which allows bulk collection of business records including phone calls — “made a contribution.” He said he only one was a “but for” case, pointing to a plot to bomb a New York subway station, a claim that has been challenged before. Inglis said that after hearing Najibullah Zazi talking on the phone about the plot, the NSA provided a number of a co-conspirator that investigators had been unaware of.

The senators expressed concern about how many people might be sucked into an investigation if intel analysts are doing two or three hops from their main target. As Shane Harris at Foreign Policy has written, that could easily include millions of people.

Inglis said they “try to be judicious” and that when there is a second hop or third hop, they “may only do that for a subset of numbers.” If a “pizza deliveryman” is included in one of those hops, “you don’t go after that,” he said.

In most cases, the bulk metadata like phone call records isn’t all that valuable on its own, said FBI deputy director Sean Joyce, but it “plays a crucial role in closing the seams” in investigations.

Some of the senators remained skeptical, even security hawk Leahy.

“We could have more security if we strip searched everybody entering every building. We’re not going to do that,” he said. “We’d have more security if we were to wiretap every phone and search every home. We’re not going to do that. Americans expect a certain amount of privacy.”

“If this program is not effective it has to end,” Leahy said. “So far I’m not convinced by what I’ve seen.”

Glenn Greenwald's report in The Guardian

Source: Forbes