[governance] (Tangential) US spy agency seeks criminal probe into leaks

[Riaz K Tayob]

* US spy agency seeks criminal probe into leaks*
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper accuses media of being 
"reckless" in revealing monitoring of internet.
Last Modified: 09 Jun 2013 03:32

The Guardian revealed that National Security Agency collected telephone 
records of millions of Americans [EPA]

A US intelligence agency has requested a criminal probe into the leak of 
highly classified information about secret surveillance programs run by 
the National Security Agency, a spokesman for the intelligence chief's 
office said.

Confirmation that the NSA filed a "crimes report" came a few hours after 
the nation's spy chief, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, 
launched an aggressive defense of a secret government data collection 
program on Saturday.

Clapper blasted what he called "reckless disclosures" of a highly 
classified spy agency project code-named PRISM.

It was not known how broad a leaks investigation was requested by the 
super-secret NSA, but Shawn Turner, a spokesman for Clapper's office, 
said a "crimes report has been filed."

Over the last week we have seen reckless disclosures of intelligence 
community measures used to keep Americans safe,

James Clapper, Director of US National Intelligence

The report goes to the Justice Department, which has established 
procedures for determining whether an investigation is warranted.

Prosecutors do not accept all requests, but they have brought a series 
of high-profile leak investigations under President Barack Obama. US 
officials said the NSA leaks were so astonishing they expected the 
Justice Department to take the case.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

In a statement earlier on Saturday, Clapper acknowledged PRISM's 
existence by name for the first time and said it had been 
mischaracterized by the media. The project was legal, not aimed at US 
citizens and had thwarted threats against the country, he said.

"Over the last week we have seen reckless disclosures of intelligence 
community measures used to keep Americans safe," Clapper said in a 
statement.

He said the surveillance activities reported in the Washington Post and 
Britain's Guardian newspaper were lawful and conducted under authorities 
approved by Congress. "Significant misimpressions" have resulted from 
recent articles, he said.

Investigating leak

President Barack Obama's national security spokesman Ben Rhodes said the 
administration was investigating whether the leak had put Americans or 
US interests in danger, implying that legal action may be considered.

"What we're focused on doing right now ... is frankly doing an 
assessment of the damage that's been done to the national security of 
the United States by the revelations of this information," he said.

The service providers - internet titans like Google, Yahoo! and Facebook 
- also hit back, insisting they had not given direct access to customer 
data.

"Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access 
to our users' data are false, period," Google's CEO Larry Page and chief 
legal officer David Drummond said in a message on their official company 
blog.

"We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday," they said, 
adding: "We provide user data to governments only in accordance with the 
law."

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg described the press reports as 
"outrageous," insisting that his firm only provided user information to 
the authorities when compelled to by law. Yahoo! issued a similar denial.

"The notion that Yahoo! gives any federal agency vast or unfettered 
access to our users' records is categorically false," general counsel 
Ron Bell said.

"We do not voluntarily disclose user information. The only disclosures 
that occur are in response to specific demands."

Court approved

Under PRISM, which has been running for six years, the US National 
Security Agency can issue directives to Internet firms demanding access 
to emails, online chats, pictures, files, videos and more uploaded by 
foreign users.

The initial press reports that revealed the secret program suggested the 
NSA had some form of back door access to the servers of firms including 
Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL, Skype, Apple, PalTalk and YouTube.

But Clapper's statement described a system whereby the government must 
apply to a secret US court for permission to target individuals or 
entities then issue a request to the service provider.

"The government cannot target anyone under the court approved procedures 
... unless there is an appropriate, and documented, foreign intelligence 
purpose for the acquisition," Clapper said.

Such a purpose, he continued, could be "the prevention of terrorism, 
hostile cyber activities or nuclear proliferation."

He admitted that data on US citizens might be "incidentally intercepted" 
in the course of targeting a foreign national, but said this would not 
normally be shared within the intelligence community unless it confirmed 
a threat.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/06/20136904534684797.html
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