NSA Recorded All Phone Calls

Just how far has NSA spying gone? The latest NSA systems can record every voice phone call made over an entire nation.

That task has already been completed, and more tests are on the way. A top manager for the spy agency compares the system to a time machine. Once any phone call is made, a voice recording is available to the agency. No warrant or court permission is required to listen in on private conversations between law-abiding people.

According to newly-released documents, in one country, the spy agency recorded every call made over a month. These voice recordings were then held for up to 30 days by the NSA. The identity of the nation is not yet known to the public.

Using a system called MYSTIC, the NSA has been recording segments of voice calls since 2009, when Barack Obama came to the Oval Office.

A new program, known as Retrospective retrieval, or RETRO, is able to search for keywords among the vast amounts of data. Phone calls can then be replayed, for NSA officials to hear.

A summary of the new system says RETRO can "retrieve audio of interest that was not tasked at the time of the original call." This is the first time in history that the entire mass of phone conversations of an entire nation has been recorded.

Caitlin Hayden, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said threats to America are "often hidden within the large and complex system of modern global communications, and the United States must consequently collect signals intelligence in bulk in certain circumstances in order to identify these threats." (1)

Millions of Americans may be affected by the new program, if they made calls to the unknown country. On January 17th, Barack Obama pledged to the American people that "the United States is not spying on ordinary people who don't threaten our national security."

Information about the new system was first published in the Washington Post. That newspaper agreed not to release the identity of the affected country. The company also told the government they will reveal the six additional countries where the program is planned to go into operation soon.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/n...