National Security Agency Accused of Eavesdropping on American Citizens

Two military intercept workers, former employees of the National Security Agency (NSA) have come forward to reveal that while they worked for the NSA, hundreds of U.S. citizens overseas were victims of illegal eavesdropping by that agency and its workers. Navy Arab linguist, David Murfee Faulk, and Adrienne Kinne, U.S. Army Arab linguist came forward with their revelations separately; they did not work together or know one another, as reported by ABC News.

About the two former NSA workers:

Kinne was assigned to the special military program within the NSA, located in Fort Gordon, Georgia, from November 2001-2003. Faulk worked as an interceptor of calls from Baghdad from the latter part of 2003-November 2007. Both relate that the individuals whose calls were intercepted included U.S. military officers, journalists and aid workers for the American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders programs.

While working for the National Security Agency, Kinne was awarded a NSA Joint Service Achievement Medal in 2003. Faulk received job evaluations while working at the NSA in which he received high marks for job performance.

The two individuals first revealed their separate stories to author Jim Bamford, who was interviewing people for a book about the NSA called "The Shadow Factory" which is due to be published next week. Asked to account for why the two individuals would share such information with him, Bamford stated, "Both of them felt that what they were doing was illegal and improper, and immoral, and it shouldn't be done, and that's what forces whistleblowers" (http://www.abcnews.go.com).

The allegations of improper eavesdropping:

As part of the Bush administration's controversial surveillance program, eavesdropping on phone conversations between an overseas caller and a caller in America is legal if one of the callers is a known or suspected terrorist.

Kinne and Faulk both agree that many of the conversations they were privy to during their tenure at the NSA were between "regular Americans," husbands, wives, friends, and romantic partners exchanging conversation. Faulk revealed that conversations that were salacious in nature-containing "phone sex" or "pillow talk" were not only eavesdropped on, but NSA workers would then share those conversations with co-workers (http://www.reuters.com/ and http://www.abcnews.go.com/).

Reaction to the allegations:

The National Security Agency, the House Intelligence Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee have launched an investigation into the truth of the allegations by the two former workers. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has said his committee has requested related information from the White House and that "There are strict procedures in place governing intelligence surveillance when it involves U.S. Persons. The Committee will take whatever action is necessary to ensure those rules are followed and any violations are addressed" (http://www.reuters.com/article).

Lisa Graves of the Center for National Security Studies stated, "This outrageous episode is a reminder that government spying powers can be used to invade the most intimate thoughts of even the most trustworthy people" (http://www.abcnews.go.com).

Michael Goldfarb, spokesman for the Doctors Without Borders program, said, "The abuse of humanitarian action through intelligence gathering for military or political objectives, threatens the ability to assist populations and undermines the safety of humanitarian aid workers."

Sources: http://www.abcnews.go.com

http://www.reuters.com

Related article: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1096614/satellitesurveillance_program_now_to.html?cat=9