NSA Says XKeyscore Media Reports Are Misleading

The recent leaks from the Guardian that revealed an NSA program called “XKeyscore” have sparked a critical response from the NSA. The leaks suggested that the NSA has indexed data about every user on the internet which includes associated phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, search history, log ins, session information and other user activity data. The service is reportedly updated in real time and NSA agents can access information on any person straight away simply by filling a basic form that does not need to be approved by a supervisor, scanned in by the system or supported by a (U.S or other) legal warrant – providing the person was a non-U.S citizen.

The NSA responded saying that:

“NSA’s activities are focused and specifically deployed against – and only against – legitimate foreign intelligence targets in response to requirements that our leaders need for information necessary to protect our nation and its interests”

Furthermore they stated that:

“Allegations of widespread, unchecked analyst access to NSA collection data are simply not true. Access to the XKEYSCORE, as well as all of NSA’s analytic tools, is limited to only those personnel who require access for their assigned tasks…Not every analyst can perform every function and no analyst can operate freely. Every search by an NSA analyst is fully auditable, to ensure that they are proper and within the law”

To read more details on the XKeyscore leak see the original report here. To read the NSA’s response to the leak, see here.

It is clear from the NSA responses that the NSA have no intentions of denying such reports of an “XKeyscore” program but the extent to which the Guardian report is factually accurate is being called into question by them.

What are your thoughts on all this?

Image courtesy of The Guardian