The National Security Agency monitored nearly 125 billion phone calls in just one month, according to a number of new reports.
And while the majority of calls reportedly originated in the Middle East, an estimated 3 billion of the calls originated in the U.S.
According to a collection of the reports and leaked classified government files, the monitored calls took place throughout the month of January 2013 and tallied to 124.8 billion.
Cryptome, a site that posts government and corporate documents, combined the various documents and says the largest share of calls originated in Afghanistan (21.98 billion) and Pakistan (12.76 billion). Elsewhere in the Middle East, billions of calls were monitored in Iraq (7.8 billion), Saudi Arabia (7.8 billion), Egypt (1.9 billion), Iran (1.73 billion) and Jordan (1.6 billion).
So, if true, how did the U.S. successfully intercept so many phone calls from around the world? Another document posted by Cryptome on Wednesday purports to show a graph released by the NSA’s PRISM program. The graph explains that many “target” international calls pass through U.S. carriers because they are less expensive. “A target’s phone call, email or chat will take the cheapest path, not the physically most direct route,” the graph explains. “You can’t always predict the path. Your target’s communication could easily be flowing into and through the U.S.”
On Wednesday, the White House denied claims that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s calls from her personal cellphone were among 361 million calls in Germany that were reportedly monitored during the same period.
Merkel reportedly personally “quizzed” President Barack Obama about the allegation during a recent phone conversation between the two.
"The President assured the Chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in response.
The Merkel spying allegation comes on the heels of a Sunday report from Cryptome, which says the U.S. also spied on calls made by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.
Also on Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied a report in Le Monde, which said the NSA has spied on 70 million phone calls originating in France.
“The allegation that the National Security Agency collected more than 70 million ‘recordings of French citizens' telephone data’ is false,” Clapper said in a statement.
“While we are not going to discuss the details of our activities, we have repeatedly made it clear that the United States gathers intelligence of the type gathered by all nations. The U.S. collects intelligence to protect the nation, its interests, and its allies from, among other things, threats such as terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”
India was the other country listed with more than a billion calls monitored (6.28 billion). In a September report, the Hindu newspaper said information provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden shows the calls were intercepted using the PRISM and Boundless Informant programs.
据外媒10月23日报道，西方多家新闻机构近日连续报道美国国家安全局（NSA）在全球范围内进行电话监听，称，今年早些时候美国国安局在短短30天的时间里就拦截记录了超过1240亿份电话通讯数据。
美国国安局一个名为“无限线人” （Boundless Informant）项目“允许用户在地图上随意选择一个目标国家，浏览元数据卷，然后选取关于这个国家被收集数据的细节内容。”《卫报》等媒体公布的文 件显示，美国国安局利用“无限线人”项目今年初仅仅30天就在世界多国收集了1240亿次电话通讯。
其中，许多数据来自大中东地区：从巴基斯坦和阿富汗通信网络中获取的信息数量最多，分别为137.6亿和219.8亿份；大约17.3亿份“拨号记录”来自伊朗，另有16.4亿份电话通讯记录可追溯至约旦。此外，美国国安局还从印度的通信网络中收集了62.8亿份信息。
分析人士认为，虽然美国国安局可能从所收集的电 话通讯数据中挑选出有价值的情报，但鉴于收集数据的数量实在过于庞大，所以他们审查所有内容的可能性不大。“尽管如此，”《卫报》称，“这些文件仍然提供 了一个窗口，让外界得以窥见美国国安局截止至今年3月究竟收集了多少信息。”
与美国保持友好关系的西方国家也被美国国安局列入电话和计算机通讯数据的收集目标。根据德国《明镜》周刊披露的文件，在短短30天的时间内，“无限线人”系统收集了大量源自德国的电话通讯记录。而西班牙和意大利则分别被收集6100万和4600万份信息。
本周，法国《世界报》也报道称，今年1月，该国超过7000万份电话通讯数据被美国国安局拦截记录。不过，美国国家情报总监詹姆斯·克拉珀随即否认了《世界报》的上述指控。