National Politics:NSA Surveillance

This is a collection of news articles and commentary on the NSA warrantless surveillance, the MAINWAY NSA call database, the PRISM surveillance program and revelations made public by Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and other people who shared classified intelligence material.

Data Sources

Newspapers

• www.washingtonpost.com - The Washington Post (requires subscription)
• www.nytimes.com - The New York Times (requires paid subscription)

News aggregation

• www.realclearpolitics.com - Real Clear Politics

Announcement mailing lists and blogs

• pfir.org, People For Internet Responsibility list run by Lauren Weinstein. Here is Lauren's blog: lauren.vortex.com.

News

• New York Times: New Leak Suggests Ashcroft Confrontation Was Over N.S.A. Program, by Charlie Savage and James Risen (June 27, 2013)
• Ars Technica: New leak shows NSA harvests To, From, and BCC lines of e-mail data, by Joe Mullin (June 27, 2013)
• The Guardian: NSA collected US email records in bulk for more than two years under Obama, by Glenn Greenwald and Spencer Ackerman (June 27, 2013)
• New York Times: F.T.C. Member Starts ‘Reclaim Your Name’ Campaign for Personal Data, by Natasha Singer (June 26, 2013)
• New York Times: Under Snowden Screen Name, 2009 Post Berated Leaks, by Scott Shane (June 26, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Students cite EU data protection laws, challenge firms over NSA data transfers, by Cyrus Farivar (June 26, 2013)
• Ars Technica: In 2009, Ed Snowden said leakers “should be shot.” Then he became one, by Joe Mullin (June 26, 2013)
• New York Times: Kerry Softens Tone with Russia in Snowden Dispute, by Michael R. Gordon (June 26, 2013)
• The Daily Beast: Greenwald: Snowden’s Files Are Out There if ‘Anything Happens’ to Him, by Eli Lake (Jun 25, 2013)
• New York Times: China Brushes Aside U.S. Warnings on Snowden, by Jane Perlez (June 25th, 2013)
• CNN: In high-stakes hide-and-seek, Snowden keeps much of the world guessing, by Jethro Mullen and Michael Pearson (June 25th, 2013)
• South China Morning Post: Snowden sought Booz Allen job to gather evidence on NSA surveillance, by Lana Lam (June 25, 2013)
• Wired: NSA Surveillance Leaks Prompt Legislation, by David Kravets (June 24, 2014)
• The New York Times blog: Excerpts From Snowden’s Letter Requesting Asylum in Ecuador, by Robert Mackey (June 24, 2013)
• The New York Times blog: Flight Departs for Cuba, but No Sign of Snowden, by Jennifer Preston (June 24, 2013)
• New York Times: Offering Snowden Aid, WikiLeaks Gets Back in the Game, by Scott Shane (June 23, 2013)
• New York Times: U.S. Rebukes China, Russia and Ecuador Over Snowden, by Peter Baker and Rick Gladstone (June 24, 2013)
• New York Times: Plane for Havana Leaves Moscow Without Snowden, by David M. Herszenhorn, Ellen Barry and Peter Baker (June 24, 2013)
• New York Times: Hasty Exit Started With Pizza Inside a Hong Kong Hideout, by Keyth Bradsher (June 24, 2013)
• ABC News: Kerry: Deeply Troubling If Snowden Allowed to Flee, by Deb Reichman, Associated Press (June 24, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Google handed over years of e-mails belonging to WikiLeaks chatroom admin, by Cyrus Farivar (June 22, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Google has 35 days to delete private Street View data, or else, by Joe Mullin (June 21, 2013)
• Wired: U.K. Spy Agency Secretly Taps Over 200 Fiber-Optic Cables, Shares Data With the NSA, by Kim Zetter (June 21, 2013)
• Ars Technica: New leaks: British intel’s direct-from-fiber taps “worse than the US”, by Cyrus Farivar (June 21, 2013)
• Wired: 5 Fun Facts From the Latest NSA Leak, by Kim Zetter (June 20, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Aaron’s Law, much-needed reforms to computer crimes law, introduced in Congress, by Cyrus Farivar (June 20, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Use of Tor and e-mail crypto could increase chances that NSA keeps your data, by Dan Goodin (June 20, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Lawmakers introduce new bill to compel gov’t to declassify secret court opinions, by Cyrus Farivar (June 20, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Concern about how Google Glass works goes international, by Casey Johnston (June 20, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Defense lawyer says gov’t hid NSA role in California terrorism case, by Cyrus Farivar (June 19, 2013)
• Ars Technica: FBI head says it’s using surveillance drones in US skies “very seldom”, by Cyrus Farivar (June 19, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Feds: We can’t give up cellular location data, because NSA doesn’t collect it, by Cyrus Farivar (June 19 2013)
• Ars Technica: Secret Sqrrl: NSA “spin-off” company releases data mining tool, by Sean Gallagher (June 19, 2013)
• Wired: Justice Department Fought to Conceal NSA’s Role in Terror Case From Defense Lawyers, by Kevin Poulsen (June 18, 2013)
• Ars Technica: NSA head defends spying, says it has disrupted more than 50 plots, by Cyrus Farivar (June 18, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Google wants secret court to grant publication of two data points, by Cyrus Farivar (June 18, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Snowden in online chat: NSA analysts can get “anything they want”, by Cyrus Farivar (June 17, 2013)
• Ars Technica: What the NSA doesn’t have: iMessages and FaceTime chats, by Joe Mullin (June 17, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Texas becomes first state to require warrant for e-mail snooping, by Cyrus Farivar (June 17, 2013)
• Ars Technica: PRISM helped stop terrorism in US and 20-plus countries, NSA document argues, by Nathan Mattise (June 16, 2013)
• Ars Technica: More Snowden leaks reveal UK surveillance on 2009 G20 summit attendees, by Nathan Mattise (June 16, 2013)
• Washington Post: Metadata reveals the secrets of social position, company hierarchy, terrorist cells, by Ellen Nakashima (June 15, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Details emerge about PRISM, big tech companies release data request reports, by Megan Geuss (June 15, 2013)
• Washington Post: U.S. surveillance architecture includes collection of revealing Internet, phone metadata, by Barton Gellman (June 15, 2013)
• Wired: Yahoo Supplied Data to PRISM Only After Losing Scrappy FISA Fight, by Kim Zetter (June 14, 2013)
• Wired: Our Top-Secret Message to NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden, by Kevin Poulsen (June 14, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Encrypted e-mail: How much annoyance will you tolerate to keep the NSA away?, by Peter Bright and Dan Goodin (June 14, 2013)
• Ars Technica: NSA gets early access to zero-day data from Microsoft, others, by Sean Gallagher (June 14, 2013)
• The Guardian: Investigate Booz Allen Hamilton, not Edward Snowden, by Pratap Chatterjee (June 14, 2013)
• Wired: Connecting the Dots on PRISM, Phone Surveillance, and the NSA’s Massive Spy Center, by James Bamford (June 12, 2013)
• Wired: Neglected Privacy Board to Probe Spygate Scandal, by David Kravets (June 12, 2013)
• Wired: The Secret War, by James Bamford (June 12, 2013)
• Ars Technica: NSA leaker Ed Snowden’s life on Ars Technica, by Joe Mullin (June 12, 2013)
• Wired: Google’s Real Secret Spy Program? Secure FTP, by Kim Zetter (June 11, 2013)
• Wired: Defense Department Orders Employees, Contractors to Steer Clear of Surveillance Stories, by David Kravets (June 11, 2013)
• Wired: Lawmakers Seek Declassification of Secret Spy Court Rulings, by David Kravets (June 11, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Guardian reporter delayed e-mailing NSA source because crypto is a pain, by Dan Goodin (June 11, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Mozilla wants 500M users to tell gov’t: “stop watching us”, by Joe Mullin (June 11, 2013)
• Ars Technica: ACLU sues four top Obama administration officials over Verizon metadata sharing, by Cyrus Farivar (June 11, 2013)
• Ars Technica: NSA leaker’s girlfriend blogged about “feeling alone” when he left, by Joe Mullin (June 11, 2013)
• Ars Technica: What the NSA can do with “big data”, by Joe Mullin (June 10, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Poll: Most Americans not worried about gov’t phone tracking, by Joe Mullin (June 10, 2013)
• The New York Times blog: N.S.A. Whistle-Blower Revealed in Video, by Robert Mackey (June 10, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Whistleblower who exposed NSA mass-surveillance revealed by The Guardian, by Megan Geuss (June 9, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Obama defends digital spying: “I think we’ve struck the right balance”, by Cyrus Farivar (June 7, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Guardian publishes third secret NSA document, on cyberwar, by Joe Mullin (June 7, 2013)
• Washington Post: U.S., British intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program, by Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras (June 6, 2013)
• Ars Technica: White House: Spying on US citizens “critical” tool for fighting terror, by Jon Brodkin (June 6, 2013)
• Ars Technica: As Senators defend mass-surveillance, Patriot Act FOIA lawsuit still awaits, by Joe Mullin (June 6, 2013)
• Ars Technica: New leak shows feds can access user accounts for Google, Facebook and more, by Cyrus Farivar (June 6, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Top secret doc shows NSA demands Verizon hand over millions of phone records daily, by Megan Geuss (June 5, 2013)
• Ars Technica: Espionage malware infects raft of governments, industries around the world, by Dan Goodin (June 4, 2013)
• Wired: Shady Companies With Ties to Israel Wiretap the U.S. for the NSA, by James Bamford (Apr 3, 2012)
• Wired: The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say), by James Bamford (March 15, 2012)
• The Tech Herald: Data intelligence firms proposed a systematic attack against WikiLeaks, by Steve Ragan (Feb 9, 2011)

Commentary

• The Fiscal Times: What’s at Stake in the 21st Century Cold War, by David Francis (June 25, 2013)
• CNN: Why Ecuador might shelter Snowden, by Steve Striffler (June 25, 2013)

Steve Striffler holds the Doris Zemurray Stone Chair in Latin American Studies and is a professor of anthropology and geography at the University of New Orleans.

• The New York Times blog: Why Snowden Asked Visitors in Hong Kong to Refrigerate Their Phones, by Heather Murphy (June 25, 2013)
• The Washington Post: Through Snowden, Ecuador seeks fight with U.S., by Juan Forero (June 24, 2013)
• The Washington Post: U.S. worried about security of files Snowden is thought to have, by Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller (June 24, 2013)
• The New York Times: The Other Snowden Drama: Impugning the Messenger, by David Carr (June 24, 2013)
• The Nation blog: Glenn Greenwald Is 'Aiding and Abetting' Democracy, by John Nichols (June 24, 2013)
• The Washington Post: On NSA disclosures, has Glenn Greenwald become something other than a reporter?, by Paul Farhi (June 23, 2013)
• Washington Post: NSA surveillance may be legal — but it’s unconstitutional, by Laura K. Donohue (June 23, 2013)

Laura K. Donohue is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and director of Georgetown’s Center on National Security and the Law.

• New York Times: Privacy and the Threat to the Self, by Michael P. Lynch (June 22, 2013)

Michael P. Lynch is a professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut and the author of "In Praise of Reason", ISBN 978-0262017220, and "Truth as One and Many," ISBN 978-0199596300. He is at work on a new book, "Prisoners of Babel: Knowledge in the Datasphere."

• mediamatters4america: FOX's Hannity: Then and Now on NSA programs (June 12, 2013)
• The New York Times blog: The Stickers on Edward Snowden’s Laptop, by John Schwartz (June 10, 2013)
• The New York Times blog: David Simon, Creator of ‘The Wire,’ Debates N.S.A. Surveillance With Readers of His Blog, by Robert Mackey (June 7, 2013)