Editing National Security Agency (section)

==== The PRISM program ====
[[File: Prism-slide-8.jpg|thumb|PRISM: a [[clandestine operation|clandestine]] [[global surveillance|surveillance]] programs under which the NSA collects large amounts of user data from companies such as [[Facebook]] and [[Microsoft]].]] Under the [[PRISM (surveillance program)|PRISM]] program, which started in 2007,<ref name="WaPo1">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html?hpid=z1 |title=U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 7, 2013 |access-date=June 6, 2013 |first1=Barton |last1=Gellman |first2=Laura |last2=Poitras |archive-date=June 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615061900/http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html?hpid=z1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Greenwald1>{{cite news|last=Greenwald|first=Glenn|title=NSA taps in to internet giants' systems to mine user data, secret files reveal|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data|access-date=June 6, 2013|date=June 6, 2013|location=London|archive-date=August 18, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818114650/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data|url-status=live}}</ref> NSA gathers Internet communications from foreign targets from nine major U.S. Internet-based communication service providers: [[Microsoft]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data|access-date=September 7, 2013|date=July 12, 2013|archive-date=November 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119014627/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Yahoo]], [[Google]], [[Facebook]], [[PalTalk]], [[AOL]], [[Skype]], [[YouTube]] and [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]. Data gathered include email, videos, photos, [[VoIP]] chats such as [[Skype]], and file transfers.

Former NSA director General Keith Alexander claimed that in September 2009 the NSA prevented [[Najibullah Zazi]] and his friends from carrying out a terrorist attack.<ref name="Angwin">{{cite book |last=Angwin |first=Julia |author-link=Julia Angwin |title=Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance |url=https://archive.org/details/dragnetnationque0000angw|url-access=registration |year=2014 |publisher=Times Books / Henry Holt and Company |isbn=978-0-8050-9807-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dragnetnationque0000angw/page/47 47]}}</ref> However, no evidence has been presented demonstrating that the NSA has ever been instrumental in preventing a terrorist attack.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.propublica.org/article/claim-on-attacks-thwarted-by-nsa-spreads-despite-lack-of-evidence| title = Elliott, Justin and Meyer, Theodoric ''ProPublica''. Retrieved October 7, 2016.| date = 23 October 2013| access-date = 7 June 2024| archive-date = 7 June 2024| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240607064024/https://www.propublica.org/article/claim-on-attacks-thwarted-by-nsa-spreads-despite-lack-of-evidence| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/nyc-bomb-plot-details-settle-little-nsa-debate|title=Goldman, Adam and Apuzzo, Matt Associated Press. Retrieved October 7, 2016.|access-date=October 7, 2016|archive-date=July 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703231925/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/nyc-bomb-plot-details-settle-little-nsa-debate|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/nsa-program-stopped-no-terror-attacks-says-white-house-panel-flna2D11783588|title=NSA program stopped no terror attacks, says White House panel member|website=NBC News|date=20 December 2013|access-date=7 June 2024|archive-date=21 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221133023/http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/19/21975158-nsa-program-stopped-no-terror-attacks-says-white-house-panel-member?lite|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131220/11312025653/judge-intelligence-task-force-both-seem-stunned-nsa-couldnt-provide-single-example-data-collection-stopping-terrorism.shtml|title=Judge And Intelligence Task Force Both Seem Stunned By Lack Of Evidence That Bulk Phone Collection Program Stops Terrorists|last=Masnick|first=Mike|date=December 23, 2013|work=Techdirt.|access-date=2017-10-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010010635/https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131220/11312025653/judge-intelligence-task-force-both-seem-stunned-nsa-couldnt-provide-single-example-data-collection-stopping-terrorism.shtml|archive-date=October 10, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>