NSA Releases Reports on Unauthorized Surveillance of Americans

The National Security Agency (NSA) released years of edited briefings it gave to an oversight group on Christmas Eve, documenting years of unauthorized surveillance on Americans that the agency argues was accidental. In its reports NSA names the oversteps “unintentional errors.”

Adm. Michael Rogers, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, testifies during a hearing before the House Select Intelligence Committee on Nov. 20. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

The National Security Agency (NSA) released years of edited briefings it gave to an oversight group on Christmas Eve, documenting years of unauthorized surveillance on Americans that the agency argues was accidental. In its reports NSA names the oversteps “unintentional errors.”

The release contained quarterly reports it had given to the president’s Intelligence Oversight Board between the fourth quarter of 2001 and the second quarter of 2013, dealing mostly with accidental surveillance of Americans mistaken for foreign nationals.

The catalog of individual instances of unauthorized surveillance at NSA showed that it was a routine affair.