NSA pays major telecom companies for access to data networks
In the appearance of a quid pro quo, the NSA dishes $278 million to major US companies for access to their communication networks that scoop up large volumes of both foreign and domestic bound data.
The relationship with major telecom companies is part of a
Corporate Partner Access Project -- funded under the NSA’s
Special Source Operations -- in which the US government sets the
financial terms for companies handing over data, the Washington
Post reported Thursday night. The project, verified by budget
documents obtained from NSA contractor Edward Snowden, confirm
that the agency taps into “high volume circuit and
packet-switched networks.”
The partnership project concerns data-capturing programs --
Blarney, Oakstar, Fairview and Stormbrew -- first revealed in the
PRISM disclosures by the Post and the
Guardian in June.
Though the US government says there are legal boundaries for such
surveillance orders and relationships, privacy advocates see the
corporate project as clear profit motive encouraging companies to
comply.
“The fact that the government is paying money to telephone
companies to turn over information that they are compelled to
turn over is very troubling,” Marc Rotenberg, executive
director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told the
Post.
The budget documents say of the $278 million for the program,
$65.96 million is for Blarney, $94.74 million for Fairview,
$46.04 million for Stormbrew and $9.41 million for Oakstar.
The documents suggest the costs go to “network and circuit
leases, equipment hardware and software maintenance, secure
network connectivity, and covert site leases.” There is
another $56.6 million for “Foreign Partner Access,” though
whether this amount is for foreign companies, foreign governments
or other foreign entities is unknown.
Meanwhile, the Post also reported Thursday how the United States spends tens
of billions of dollars annually on spy programs.
