IC ON THE RECORD

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Thank you for your time and questions - many, many more than I could answer in a little under two hours.
I hope you found it helpful and I was able to provide some useful information about NSA, my office and our mission. 
While I only had a small window of time to respond to your questions, I hope to use this venue and others in the future to provide additional information.
We’ll have to do this again some time.  Let’s keep the dialog going.
Becky
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Thank you for your time and questions - many, many more than I could answer in a little under two hours.

I hope you found it helpful and I was able to provide some useful information about NSA, my office and our mission. 

While I only had a small window of time to respond to your questions, I hope to use this venue and others in the future to provide additional information.

We’ll have to do this again some time.  Let’s keep the dialog going.

Becky

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Q:What's the point of this Q&A? Is something good supposed to come out of it?

baykerstreet

Until somewhat recently, relatively little information about NSA was public. And the information that was made available rarely discussed the safeguards in place to protect civil liberties and privacy. 

One of my goals is to share what NSA does to protect civil liberties and privacy. This will take time, but we must start somewhere. 

So I understand why folks are concerned, but we have to start somewhere to begin to rebuild that trust.

Becky

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Q:What process compares the gains for national security to the losses of privacy for internet surveillance?

Anonymous

This is a difficult process, but a worthwhile one. I’ve found NSA already has a very strong compliance ethic and as my report shows has many existing safeguards for privacy and civil liberties.

To address the privacy challenges that naturally arise in the national security environment, we are building an assessment process that identifies both the risks to privacy and civil liberties and the mitigations that reduce the impact on ordinary people. It includes:

1. how intrusive is the program to the individual (e.g., what type of data is being collected?)

2.  how broad is the program (e.g., am I obtaining data about more people than my intended foreign intelligence target?)

3. are the stated use and future uses appropriate given the type of data collected?

As part of this, NSA is documenting both standard protections, such as minimization of personal information and control on who has access to the information, as well as any specialized tools, training, policies, and procedures in place designed to protect civil liberties and privacy.

Becky

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Q:What are the safeguards, the checks and balances that ensure that the NSA, and anyone within the NSA is following the law and not becoming overzealous while in pursuit of gathering intelligence to protect our national security? Because having your stated policy on privacy is nice, but ultimately meaningless if there is not an effective method of enforcement in place. How do you know your methods are working?

truestoryofthelieswetold

My office has issued two public reports that document existing civil liberties and privacy protections at NSA and I’ve launched a public web site that aims to provide more information about our activities to the public. 

Many NSA systems employ automated means—on top of human-based checks—to protect personal information and safeguard privacy and civil liberties considerations. We see automated tools and processes as an important—but not the only—means of achieving these objectives.

No system is perfect, and that is why we also employ robust human checks conducted by highly trained analysts and compliance personnel. 

If our compliance measures do not prevent a mistake, NSA employees are obligated to report those incidents.  We provide regular reports of any errors to our oversight authorities both within the Executive Branch and the Congress.

Becky

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Thank you so much for all your questions

We’ve got time for just a couple more!

Becky

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Q:Are our fears of being discreetly spied on merited? Should we have cause for concern?

Anonymous

No - the President answered this question in his address to the nation in January 2014.  NSA employees, he said, “are not abusing authorities in order to listen to your private phone calls or read your emails.” 

That’s the short answer.  here’s a longer one…

NSA is a foreign intelligence agency. Our mission is to collect critical intelligence on foreign powers or their agents necessary to defend the country. 

Other agencies, primarily the Federal Bureau of Investigation, focus on disrupting national security threats within the United States, including those involving Americans. 

To target a specific American for foreign intelligence purposes, such as an American citizen who may have joined a terrorist group overseas, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act generally requires the Government to obtain an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, based on a finding of probable cause to believe the intended target is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power.

When directing signals intelligence collection against a non-U.S. person, some degree of incidental collection of U.S. person communications is inevitable. 

For example, a foreign intelligence target may communicate with or about a U.S. Person.  NSA’s minimization procedures have been designed to account for this possibility and other cases where NSA may incidentally acquire U.S. Person information.

To take that one step further, the NSA cannot, and does not, ask foreign partners to do that which it is legally prohibited from doing. 

When we do work with foreign partners, we do so under regulated conditions, helping to ensure that our partners cannot use our capabilities to circumvent their laws and policies.

Becky

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Q:Do you believe Edward Snowden is a traitor? Why or why not?

Anonymous

It’s an ongoing investigation so I cant comment, but from NSA’s internal review, we know that U.S. intelligence capabilities, activities and methods from a wide range of sources have been compromised. 

Our people overseas in dangerous places and at home are at greater risk because it is now harder to see foreign threats.

Becky

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Q:Hi. Do you see incidental collection of US persons' data as a privacy issue, and do you support the Review Group's recommendation 12(1) that such data should presumptively be "purged upon detection"? --Barton Gellman

Anonymous

Yes.  It’s a privacy issue.

There are many restrictions protecting US persons information that limit use, access, sharing and retention of that data.  These are generally referred to as “minimization procedures.”  These include rigorous controls over how long data can be maintained and when it must be purged.

These minimization procedures, as well as other policies, attempt to limit the amount of US person information that NSA incidentally acquires.  Part of my job is to apply my civil liberties and privacy perspective and expertise as NSA translates these longstanding principles to the modern communications environment. 

Becky

P.S. Curious about what US person means?  See here.

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Q:How do you respond to news reports that suggest some NSA analysts with access to the bulk telephone metadata records misappropriated their search ability to gather details on romantic interests?

matthewkeys

I think you are referring to the widely reported letter sent to congress in 2013.  This was not about the use of misuse of bulk telephony metadata records.

As noted in the letter, there have been very limited cases of intentional misuse by a handful of individuals.These have been investigated by NSA’s Inspector General and reported to Congress.

Appropriate personnel actions were taken to hold individuals accountable for their actions.

The overwhelming majority of errors that are reported in NSA’s regular intelligence oversight reports are unintentional mistakes that are quickly addressed.

Becky

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Q:What is your first priority as Privacy Director?

61secondsago

I actually have four main goals…

Advise NSA leadership including the Director.

Build systematic and holistic civil liberties and privacy processes.

Improve civil liberties and privacy protections through research, education, and training.

Increase transparency.

Becky

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IC ON THE RECORD:

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