Civil liberties advocates were incandescent Friday at reports that National Security Agency eavesdroppers broke privacy rules or overstepped their legal authority thousands of times every year while implementing the broad, suspicion-less data-gathering programs exposed by leaker Edward J. Snowden.
“The rules around government surveillance are so permissive
that it is difficult to comprehend how the intelligence community could
possibly have managed to violate them so often,” ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said.
He called the numbers “jaw-dropping.”
A Top Secret internal NSA audit,
leaked by Mr.
Snowden to freelance journalist Barton Gellman earlier
this summer and published online by The
Washington Post Thursday night shows that, in the 12 months prior to
May 2012, there were 2,776 incidents of “unauthorized collection, storage,
access to or distribution of legally protected communications” — those between
Americans or foreigners legally in the United States.
“Most were unintended,” The Post reported. “Many involved
failures of due diligence or violations of standard operating procedure.”
The news is likely to heighten public mistrust of the way
officials have described the NSA programs Mr. Snowden exposed.
In June, officials from the NSA,
FBI, Justice Department and the office of the director of national intelligence
testified before two House committees.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole pledged to be “as
transparent … as we possibly can” about the programs, describing an extensive
system of safeguards and oversight he said kept the agency on
the straight and narrow.
“Every now and then, there may be a mistake,” Mr. Cole said
in sworn testimony.