The NSA

Disclaimer:  I am an Information Assurance Professional.  My job for the last four years has included the securing and assessment of government systems and reporting on those findings.  I have used checklists and documentation by the NSA in order to fulfill my job function. 

I first refer you to the NSA's web site specifically to the mission statement page.  Note the prominent use of the word foreign throughout the signal intelligence statement.  I won't argue that they do a suberb, albeit sometime overly-paranoid job of the information assurance mission, they are not chartered for domestic survelliance.  In fact, the original intent of the NSA was to work with the CIA, FBI and DoD to provide communications intelligence against foreign governments. 

I then refer you to Executive Order 12333, in which the role of the agency is redefined somewhat.  The original intent is not lost however, we keep talking about foreign intelligence.  The main difference is that we aren't talking about foreign governments anymore.  Which isn't a big deal.  It is also supposed to protect the communication security of the US Government.

But do remember that this is a component of the Department of Defense, the Executive Order states that the NSA is for all intensive purposes, a service organization.  It doesn't say that it makes up what it is supposed to do and then goes and does it.  It gets its cues from the Director of Central Intelligence and the Defense Department.  On occasion it is allowed to play with the FBI, under the supervision of adults like Congress, the White House and the Attorney General. 

They have internal directives that they developed, but apparently don't follow.  Whatever the spin tells you, whoever says I don't mind that they are logging my calls, the fact remains that it was done illegally.  The USSID 18 specifically calls out that the NSA is not allowed to intentionally collect communication to, from or about U.S. persons without the FISA court, Attorney General or unless it is an emergency.  Of course a 3 year program is not an emergency. 

To those who say we weren't listening we were just making a big flowchart the key phrase in the USSID 18 is about U.S. Persons.  That's when you say it was to look for terrorism.  Correct, you are looking for foreign terrorists but it was apparently to broad for the Attorney General to sign, and they knew that they wouldn't get it by the FISA court. 

So I guess in the end, if the machine wants to prove that they did this correctly.  The General Counsel of the NSA needs to provide some documents and some proof, not some spin.