Master Talking Points: Soundbites That Resonate - I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent. Mission - Our primary responsibility is to defend the nation.
- NSA's mission is to produce foreign intelligence to protect the U.S. and its allies.
- The mission of NSA and its military component, the Central Security Service, is focused on saving lives, defending vital networks, and in providing essential foreign intelligence to our nation's leaders and allies. We've served the nation in silence for 60 years. We Needed To Connect The Dots - After 9/11 it was determined the intelligence community failed to
connect the dots.
- Some of those dots were in the United States. The intelligence community was not able to connect those "domestic dots" - phone calls between operatives in the U.S. - and al Qaida terrorists overseas.
- A major challenge in this digital age is that terrorists and citizens use the same communications networks.
- Because terrorists and key targets use the full spectrum of global communication tools and means that are available, NSA maintains a robust set of tools and capabilities that enable it to lawfully provide critical, timely intelligence to u.s. government leaders and to our key allies.
- Post-9/11 we made several changes and added a number of capabilities to enable us to connect the dots.
- Two of those capabilities are the business records FISA, or section 215 and FAA 702 or PRISM.
- Following the 9/11 Commission findings, Congress pa**ed the Patriot Act. Section 215 of that act, as it has been interpreted and applied, helps the government close that gap by enabling the detection of telephone contact between terrorists overseas and operatives within the United States. Later in 2007 and 2008, Congress pa**ed statutes to enable the USG to more effectively collect foreign intelligence information about foreign persons outside the United States with the a**istance of U.S. communications providers.
- These programs are limited, focused, and subject to rigorous oversight. They have distinct purposes and oversight mechanisms. Program Oversight - These capabilities were approved by the administration, congress and the fisa court; all three branches of the government.
- And with these exceptional authorities came significant oversight from all three branches of the government.
- A report issued by the senate select intelligence committee in june 2012 in support of the reauthorization of the 2008 amendments to fisa emphasized that the government implements these surveillance authorities in a responsible manner: "through four years of oversight, the committee has not identified a single case in which a government official engaged in willful effort to circumvent or violate the law."
- We work through all three branches of government - Congress, courts, and executive --to receive the necessary legal authorities and rigorous oversight to do our mission.
- This is a highly regulated space. Protection of Privacy and Civil Liberties - To be clear, under fisa, in order to target the content of a U.S. person's communications anywhere in the world, NSA requires a finding of probable cause under a specific court order.
- In my view, the leaked targeting and minimization procedures for FAA 702 demonstrate "a rule-bound intelligence bureaucracy that is highly sensitive to the distinction between foreigners and u.s. persons .... the two sets of rules, each nine pages long, belie the image of a rogue intelligence agency recklessly violating American's privacy.
- NSA employees are acutely aware of the importance of protecting the 4th Amendment. We are, ourselves, private citizens. Targeting And Minimization Procedures For FAA 702 [...] Compliance [...] Value of Programs - On 21 June, we provided over 50 cases to both the house and senate intelligence committees that show the contribution of our understanding and in many cases disruption of terrorist plots in the us and in over 20 countries throughout the world.
- Atleast 10 of these..[cases]..included homeland-based threats.
- What that translates to is significant information on ongoing terrorist activities with no willful violations of our civil liberties and privacy. 50+ to zero.
- These programs have helped us connect the dots.
- And the statistics highlight that NSA is committed to protecting and upholding the privacy and civil liberties of the american people.
- The information the U.S. intelligence community provided to more than 20 foreign countries, spread across Europe and Africa, enabled their governments to disrupt plots in their own countries.
- I want to reiterate what DDIR FBI Joyce said in testimony: Every tool is essential and vital. These have been valuable to stopping some of those plots. You ask, how can you put the value on an American life? And I can not tell you, it's priceless. Value to Allies - And our allies have benefited from these lawfully operated programs just as we have.
- Any allegation that NSA relies on its foreign partners to circumvent U.S. law is absolutely false. NSA does not ask its foreign partners to undertake any intelligence activity that the U.S. government would be legally prohibited from undertaking itself. NSA's People - This has been accomplished by the extraordinary people at NSA, the real heroes, along with our partners at the CIA, FBI, DOD and DHS.
[...] Industry Is Necessary Partner - But we could not do this without industry support. In these cases, industry is compelled by the court to provide the required information.
- It has been my experience that industry wants to ensure they are protecting your data, so being compelled ensures we are both doing this right.
- They know these programs make a difference in defending our nation and our allies.
[...] Disclosures and Damage - Public discussion of NSA's tradecraft, or the tools that support its operations, provide insights that terrorists can and do use to hide
their activities. This would be detrimental to national security.
- Those who wish to do us harm now know how we counter their actions; this had done irreversible harm to our nation's security. Historically every time a capability is revealed, it has compromised sources and methods.
[...] Many Nations Have Similar Capabilities - We believe that over 100 nations are capable of collecting signals intelligence or operating a lawful intercept capability that enable them to monitor communications.
- NSA activities are done in complete compliance with U.S. laws and with the oversight of all three branches of government.
- I think ours is among the best at protecting privacy and civil liberties. We focus on foreign intelligence; not economic espionage, not crime. Need for Apolitical Conversation - From my perspective this is not a political debate, this is a national security issue.
- We expect there will be further disclosures designed to embarra**. They will take our partnerships and allies and industry out of context to further inflame the debate.
[...] Need to Balance Transparency With Protecting Sources and Methods - The nsa is committed to transparency. we must balance transparency with the protection of sources and methods. We need to ensure that as we make information available to the public, we also ensure that we are protecting the technologies and capabilities that enable our successes in our lawful SIGINT and information a**urance mission.
- If we could have an open and public debate without arming terrorists with the information about how to defeat our capabilties, we would jump on it. Two Distinct Programs At Issue - There has been considerable confusion in the press, so allow me to clarify something right at the start. two separate programs are
at issue: one program, as noted above, is authorized by section 215 of the patriot act. this program involves only telephone metadata, such as telephone numbers dialed and length of call, but not the content of any call, subscriber information, or locational data. The second program, authorized under section 702 of the FISA amendments act, concerns targeting non-u.s. persons abroad for foreign intelligence about matters like counterterrorism. Uncla**ified Four Plots: NYC Attack Plot 2009 - In early September of 2009, while monitoring the activities of al Qaeda terrorists in pakistan, nsa noted contact from an individual in the U.S. that the FBI subsequently identified as Colorado-based Najibullah Zazi. The U.S. intelligence community, including the FBI and NSA, worked in concert to determine his relationship with al Qaeda, as well as identify any foreign or domestic terrorist links.
- The FBI tracked Zazi as he traveled to New York to meet up with coconspirators, where they were planning to conduct a terrorist attack.
- Zazi and his co-conspirators were subsequently arrested. Zazi, upon indictment, pled guilty to conspiring to bomb the NYC subway system. this plot was characterized as 'the most serious terrorist threat on u.s. soil since 9/11.'
- Compelled collection {authorized under fisa section 702) against foreign terrorists was critical to the discovery and disruption of this threat against the united states. Chicago Terror Investigation - In october 2009, David Coleman Headley, a chicago businessman and dual U.S. and Pakistani citizen, was arrested by the FBI as he tried to depart from Chicago O'hare airport on a trip to Europe. Headley was charged with support to terrorism based on his involvement in the planning and reconnaissance of the hotel attack in Mumbai 2008.
- At the time of his arrest, Headley and his colleagues were plotting to attack the Danish newspaper that published the unflattering cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, at the behest of al Qaeda.
- Compelled collection {authorized under FISA section 702) against foreign terrorists and metadata an*lysis {authorized under the business records provision of FISA) were utilized in complement with the FBI law enforcement authorities to investigate Headley's overseas a**ociates and their involvement in Headley's activities. Basaaly Moalin, October 2007 - In October 2007, NSA provided the FBI with information obtained from querying the metadata obtained under section 215. This information established a connection between a phone known to be used by an extremist overseas with ties to al Qaeda's East Africa network, and an unknown San Diego-based number. That tip ultimately led to the FBI's opening of a full investigation that resulted in a february 2013 conviction of Basaaly Moalin and three others for conspiring to provide material support to al Shabaab, a state department-designated terrorist group in
Somalia that engages in suicide bombings, targets civilians for a**a**ination, and uses improvised explosive devices. Operation Wi-fi, April 2009 - In January 2009, using authorized collection under section 702 to monitor the communications of an extremist overseas with ties to al Qaeda, NSA discovered a connection with an individual based in Kansas city. NSA tipped the information to FBI, which during the course of its investigation uncovered a plot to attack the New York stock exchange. NSA queried metadata obtained under section 215 to ensure that we identified all potential connections to the plot, a**isting the FBI in running down leads.