WASHINGTON – The National Security Agency is likely to face new scrutiny after a published report that it has the capability of recording and retrieving 100 percent of phone calls in foreign countries.
Details about the program, which is called MYSTIC, were first reported by The Washington Post Tuesday. The paper learned about the program through documents it obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
MYSTIC was launched in 2009, and the surveillance tool features “retrospective retrieval” capability, which allows the agency to rewind and review calls up to a month after they’ve taken place.
MYSTIC “reached full capacity against the first target nation in 2011. Planning documents two years later anticipated similar operations elsewhere,” the Post reports.
NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines did not confirm or deny the existence of the program, but she said in a statement that the “NSA does not conduct signals intelligence collection in any country, or anywhere in the world, unless it is necessary to advance U.S. national security and foreign policy interests and to protect its citizens and the citizens of its allies and partners from harm.
“Continuous and selective reporting of specific techniques and tools used for legitimate U.S. foreign intelligence activities is highly detrimental to the national security of the United States and of our allies and places at risk those we are sworn to protect,” Vines added.
Snowden has offered a treasure trove of revelations about the NSA’s spying techniques since last year. But notably, the MYSTIC program is the first one he’s disclosed that suggests that U.S. intelligence has the ability to conduct mass monitoring of the content of calls.
In a January speech to announce reforms to NSA surveillance operations, President Barack Obama suggested the agency does not spy on foreign citizens unless national security is at risk.
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