NSA news stories on Newser

New NSA Spy Center Will Target Every Email and Phone Call

Neal Colgrass — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 16:16:33 CDT

Looks like Congress can't stop the NSA from monitoring every nook and cranny of our lives after all. In an explosive feature in Wired , James Bamford reveals that the National Security Agency has revived a program called "Total Information Awareness," which aims to collect and sift through every electronic communication...

Obama, NSA Spar on Cyber-Spying

Kevin Spak — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:29:05 CST

The White House and the National Security Agency have repeatedly clashed over the NSA's efforts to fight cyberattacks, with the Obama administration arguing that they would impinge on Americans' privacy, the Washington Post reports. The most dramatic confrontation was over legislation proposed last year that would have forced Internet companies...

Hackers Post 3K Intel Names, Emails

Mark Russell — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 05:33:00 CDT

Hackers have grabbed and published the names and email addresses of thousands of high-ranking security officials, handing them over to an anti-secrecy website, reports NBC News . About 3,000 names belonging to the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a nonprofit organization for members of the intelligence community, were posted to...

Whistleblower Gets Plea Deal in NSA Case

John Johnson — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:36:09 CDT

A White House attempt to crack down on classified leaks is fizzling with a misdemeanor plea deal, reports the Washington Post . Former NSA official Thomas Drake will plead guilty to using a government computer to share information with an unauthorized person— who happened to a be a Baltimore Sun reporter...

NSA: Hey Kids! Spy on Your Family!

Mary Papenfuss — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 02:46:51 CDT

New CryptoKids cartoons created by the National Security Agency urge wanna-be baby spies to make and break codes, pick up languages for easy eavesdropping, and oh, hey, monitor family computers so they know exactly what everyone in the house is doing. The character Decipher Dog discusses his "favorite project" linking...

Murdered Spy Helped Foil al-Qaeda Plot

Jane Yager — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:10:47 CDT

The British spy found stuffed into a duffel bag in his London apartment last week was a math genius codebreaker who worked with the American NSA as well as UK intelligence, in part helping to decode emails that were used to convict three men connected to an al-Qaeda bigwig who...

Ex-NSA Exec Indicted Over Leaks to Media

Kevin Spak — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:08:42 CDT

A former National Security Agency executive has been indicted on 10 felony charges for allegedly leaking classified details of the Bush administration’s intelligence policies to a national newspaper. The indictment alleges that Thomas Drake, a former big shot in the agency’s Signals Intelligence Directorate, sent hundreds of emails to a...

Google Teams With NSA to Fight Cyberattacks

Jane Yager — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:47:32 CST

Shaken by recent large-scale hacking of its systems, Google is enlisting the National Security Agency in a deal that highlights the growing dilemma of balancing privacy concerns with national security interests. The agreement, the first of its kind between a government agency and an Internet search company, will see the...

Harman: Release Wiretap Transcripts

Nick McMaster — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:05:24 CDT

California Rep. Jane Harman demanded today that Justice Department release “unredacted” transcripts of telephone conversations recorded without her knowledge, Politico reports. Harman demanded the wiretapped conversations be released in response to media reports that she was recorded agreeing to try to help two pro-Israel lobbyists accused of spying in exchange...