According to a leaked report, the National Security Agency (NSA) has started planning on expanding its surveillance powers in 2012.
In a leaked report dated February 2012, the security agency outlined a four-year strategic plan to take control over intelligence collection through stretching its surveillance powers. It plans to spy and gather communications data around the world. Furthermore, the authorities intend to "aggressively pursue legal authorities and a policy framework mapped more fully to the information age."
According to the five-page document obtained by the New York Times, the existing laws in the United States were inadequate to meet the objective of the agency in conducting extensive surveillance in "the golden age of Sigint," or signals intelligence.
It was concluded in the document, "The interpretation and guidelines for applying our authorities, and in some cases the authorities themselves, have not kept pace with the complexity of the technology and target environments, or the operational expectations levied on N.S.A.'s mission."
Along with that goal is the agency's plan to conquer the cybersecurity practices of targets to access all the data it needs. It also plans to bypass or decrypt codes that secures communications through manipulating "the global commercial encryption market through commercial relationships," intelligence partners in other countries, and even human scouts.
Click HERE to read actual document
However, the "Sigint Strategy 2012-2016," does not state what legal or policy alterations it might do. However, the agency's powers are decided by the executive orders, Congress and especially the nation's secret intelligence court and its operations are directed according to regulations.
Regardless of the revamp in the national security law in 2008, it doesn't let NSA to continue monitoring a terrorism suspect watched overseas, even if it enters the premises of the U.S. They need to get a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court first before continuing with their surveillance.
"N.S.A.'s Sigint strategy is designed to guide investments in future capabilities and close gaps in current capabilities," the agency said in a statement. "In an ever-changing technology and telecommunications environment, N.S.A. tries to get in front of issues to better fulfill the foreign-intelligence requirements of the U.S. government."
The leaked document shows that even if NSA has great surveillance powers, it still frets over its ability to repel bureaucratic torpor while keeping up with the changes.
