The National Security Agency is operating at least two surveillance programs out of an AT&T facility in New York City, according to new documents made public by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The documents, along with public records and interviews published by The Intercept on Wednesday, indicate the NSA maintains BLARNEY, its largest telecommunication surveillance program, and SKIDROWE, a program aimed at intercepting satellite transmissions including messages sent between Internet users, out of an AT&T facility at 33 Thomas St.
The company maintained that if the NSA did indeed operate in the facility, it was doing so within its own space. Fletcher Cook, an AT&T spokesman, told The Intercept that NSA representatives “do not have access to any secure room or space within our owned portion of the 33 Thomas St. building.”
The report could serve to further sully AT&T’s reputation by contributing to the appearance that it collaborates with government to spy on its customers. The new revelations come a month after separate documents indicated the company allowed local law enforcement agencies to pay to access Project Hemisphere, a metadata mining program on par with those maintained by the NSA.
The documents indicate AT&T was even assigned its own code name, LITHIUM, while the Thomas Street facility was code-named TITANPOINTE. They also reveal AT&T has installed surveillance equipment in at least 59 sites around the United States.
“This is yet more proof that our communications service providers have become, whether willingly or unwillingly, an arm of the surveillance state,” said Elizabeth Goiten, codirector of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
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The documents, which were provided to the media by Snowden in 2013 but not made public until this week, revealed the NSA used the programs to spy on financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Bank of Japan, as well as at least 38 U.S. allies, including the European Union, the United Nations and countries such as France, Germany, Greece and Mexico.
“Some still try to claim mass surveillance is about counterterrorism. But if you look at the targets, you’ll find the truth is darker,” Snowden said in a message on Twitter.
Mark Klein, an AT&T technician who worked at the Thomas Street facility from 1981-90, said he was not surprised. “I wasn’t aware of any NSA presence when I was there, but I had a creepy feeling about the building, because I knew about AT&T’s close collaboration with the Pentagon, going way back.
“I’m not surprised. It’s obviously a major installation … If you’re interested in doing surveillance, it’s a good place to do it,” Klein said.
