The National Security Agency has released redacted documents outlining instances in which it the agency improperly collected data on U.S. citizens over more than a decade.
Responding to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, the NSA this week released redacted copies of reports to the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board detailing instances in which it gathered intelligence on Americans in ways that may have violated the law. Bloomberg first reported the document release.
The NSA said the release of the documents showed the agency’s transparency.
“These materials show, over a sustained period of time, the depth and rigor of NSA’s commitment to compliance,” the NSA said. “By emphasizing accountability across all levels of the enterprise, and transparently reporting errors and violations to outside oversight authorities, NSA protects privacy and civil liberties while safeguarding the nation and our allies.”
The reports, filed to the White House quarterly and annually, contained instances in which intelligence data was stored in unsecured computers or was accidentally disclosed to parties unauthorized to see it.
“The vast majority of compliance incidents involve unintentional technical or human error,” the NSA said.
Some cases, however, involved intelligence officers intentionally acting beyond their authority.
The Wall Street Journal flagged one instance in which a member of the military targeted his wife using an NSA system, and another in which an analyst accessed her spouse’s cell phone for contacts to target.
“In the very few cases that involve the intentional misuse of a signals intelligence system, a thorough investigation is completed, the results are reported to the [Intelligence Oversight Board] and the Department of Justice as required, and appropriate disciplinary or administrative action is taken,” the NSA said.
The NSA has received heavy criticism for its monitoring of U.S. citizens in the wake of disclosures by former contractor Edward Snowden revealing programs that tracked the email, phone, and web data of millions of Americans.
ACLU attorney Patrick Toomey told the Wall Street Journal that the documents released by the NSA this week show “how the NSA has misused the information it collects over the past decade. They show an urgent need for greater oversight by all three branches of government.”
