The National Security Agency has been gathering records of online sexual activity and evidence of visits to pornographic websites as part of a proposed plan to harm the reputations of those whom the agency believes are radicalizing others through incendiary speeches, according to a top-secret NSA document. The document, provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, identifies six targets, all Muslims, as “exemplars” of how “personal vulnerabilities” can be learned through electronic surveillance, and then exploited to undermine a target's credibility, reputation and authority.
The NSA document, dated Oct. 3, 2012, repeatedly refers to the power of charges of hypocrisy to undermine such a messenger. “A previous SIGINT" -- or signals intelligence, the interception of communications -- "assessment report on radicalization indicated that radicalizers appear to be particularly vulnerable in the area of authority when their private and public behaviors are not consistent,” the document argues.
Among the vulnerabilities listed by the NSA that can be effectively exploited are “viewing sexually explicit material online” and “using sexually explicit persuasive language when communicating with inexperienced young girls.”
The Director of the National Security Agency -- described as "DIRNSA" -- is listed as the "originator" of the document. Beyond the NSA itself, the listed recipients include officials with the Departments of Justice and Commerce and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
"Without discussing specific individuals, it should not be surprising that the US Government uses all of the lawful tools at our disposal to impede the efforts of valid terrorist targets who seek to harm the nation and radicalize others to violence," Shawn Turner, director of public affairs for National Intelligence, told The Huffington Post in an email Tuesday.
Yet Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said these revelations give rise to serious concerns about abuse. "It's important to remember that the NSA’s surveillance activities are anything but narrowly focused -- the agency is collecting massive amounts of sensitive information about virtually everyone," he said.
"Wherever you are, the NSA's databases store information about your political views, your medical history, your intimate relationships and your activities online," he added. "The NSA says this personal information won't be abused, but these documents show that the NSA probably defines 'abuse' very narrowly."
None of the six individuals targeted by the NSA is accused in the document of being involved in terror plots. The agency believes they all currently reside outside the United States. It identifies one of them, however, as a "U.S. person," which means he is either a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident. A U.S. person is entitled to greater legal protections against NSA surveillance than foreigners are.
Stewart Baker, a one-time general counsel for the NSA and a top Homeland Security official in the Bush administration, said that the idea of using potentially embarrassing information to undermine targets is a sound one. "If people are engaged in trying to recruit folks to kill Americans and we can discredit them, we ought to," said Baker. "On the whole, it's fairer and maybe more humane" than bombing a target, he said, describing the tactic as "dropping the truth on them."
Any system can be abused, Baker allowed, but he said fears of the policy drifting to domestic political opponents don't justify rejecting it. "On that ground you could question almost any tactic we use in a war, and at some point you have to say we're counting on our officials to know the difference," he said.
In addition to analyzing the content of their internet activities, the NSA also examined the targets' contact lists. The NSA accuses two of the targets of promoting al Qaeda propaganda, but states that surveillance of the three English-speakers’ communications revealed that they have "minimal terrorist contacts."
In particular, “only seven (1 percent) of the contacts in the study of the three English-speaking radicalizers were characterized in SIGINT as affiliated with an extremist group or a Pakistani militant group. An earlier communications profile of [one of the targets] reveals that 3 of the 213 distinct individuals he was in contact with between 4 August and 2 November 2010 were known or suspected of being associated with terrorism," the document reads.
The document contends that the three Arabic-speaking targets have more contacts with affiliates of extremist groups, but does not suggest they themselves are involved in any terror plots.
Instead, the NSA believes the targeted individuals radicalize people through the expression of controversial ideas via YouTube, Facebook and other social media websites. Their audience, both English and Arabic speakers, "includes individuals who do not yet hold extremist views but who are susceptible to the extremist message,” the document states. The NSA says the speeches and writings of the six individuals resonate most in countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Kenya, Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia.
The NSA possesses embarrassing sexually explicit information about at least two of the targets by virtue of electronic surveillance of their online activity. The report states that some of the data was gleaned through FBI surveillance programs carried out under the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act. The document adds, "Information herein is based largely on Sunni extremist communications." It further states that "the SIGINT information is from primary sources with direct access and is generally considered reliable."
According to the document, the NSA believes that exploiting electronic surveillance to publicly reveal online sexual activities can make it harder for these “radicalizers” to maintain their credibility. "Focusing on access reveals potential vulnerabilities that could be even more effectively exploited when used in combination with vulnerabilities of character or credibility, or both, of the message in order to shape the perception of the messenger as well as that of his followers," the document argues.
An attached appendix lists the "argument" each surveillance target has made that the NSA says constitutes radicalism, as well the personal "vulnerabilities" the agency believes would leave the targets "open to credibility challenges" if exposed.
One target's offending argument is that "Non-Muslims are a threat to Islam," and a vulnerability listed against him is "online promiscuity." Another target, a foreign citizen the NSA describes as a "respected academic," holds the offending view that "offensive jihad is justified," and his vulnerabilities are listed as "online promiscuity" and "publishes articles without checking facts." A third targeted radical is described as a "well-known media celebrity" based in the Middle East who argues that "the U.S perpetrated the 9/11 attack." Under vulnerabilities, he is said to lead "a glamorous lifestyle." A fourth target, who argues that "the U.S. brought the 9/11 attacks on itself" is said to be vulnerable to accusations of “deceitful use of funds." The document expresses the hope that revealing damaging information about the individuals could undermine their perceived "devotion to the jihadist cause."
The Huffington Post is withholding the names and locations of the six targeted individuals; the allegations made by the NSA about their online activities in this document cannot be verified.
The document does not indicate whether the NSA carried out its plan to discredit these six individuals, either by communicating with them privately about the acquired information or leaking it publicly. There is also no discussion in the document of any legal or ethical constraints on exploiting electronic surveillance in this manner.
While Baker and others support using surveillance to tarnish the reputation of people the NSA considers "radicalizers," U.S. officials have in the past used similar tactics against civil rights leaders, labor movement activists and others.
Under J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI harassed activists and compiled secret files on political leaders, most notably Martin Luther King, Jr. The extent of the FBI's surveillance of political figures is still being revealed to this day, as the bureau releases the long dossiers it compiled on certain people in response to Freedom of Information Act requests following their deaths. The information collected by the FBI often centered on sex -- homosexuality was an ongoing obsession on Hoover's watch -- and information about extramarital affairs was reportedly used to blackmail politicians into fulfilling the bureau's needs.
Current FBI Director James Comey recently ordered new FBI agents to visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington to understand "the dangers in becoming untethered to oversight and accountability."
James Bamford, a journalist who has been covering the NSA since the early 1980s, said the use of surveillance to exploit embarrassing private behavior is precisely what led to past U.S. surveillance scandals. "The NSA's operation is eerily similar to the FBI's operations under J. Edgar Hoover in the 1960s where the bureau used wiretapping to discover vulnerabilities, such as sexual activity, to 'neutralize' their targets," he said. "Back then, the idea was developed by the longest serving FBI chief in U.S. history, today it was suggested by the longest serving NSA chief in U.S. history."
That controversy, Bamford said, also involved the NSA. "And back then, the NSA was also used to do the eavesdropping on King and others through its Operation Minaret. A later review declared the NSA’s program 'disreputable if not outright illegal,'" he said.
Baker said that until there is evidence the tactic is being abused, the NSA should be trusted to use its discretion. "The abuses that involved Martin Luther King occurred before Edward Snowden was born," he said. "I think we can describe them as historical rather than current scandals. Before I say, 'Yeah, we've gotta worry about that,' I'd like to see evidence of that happening, or is even contemplated today, and I don't see it."
Jaffer, however, warned that the lessons of history ought to compel serious concern that a "president will ask the NSA to use the fruits of surveillance to discredit a political opponent, journalist or human rights activist."
"The NSA has used its power that way in the past and it would be naïve to think it couldn't use its power that way in the future," he said.
为了保护国家免遭恐怖袭击，美国国家安全局（NSA）可谓绞尽脑汁。除采用常规反恐手段外，国安局还在暗地里搜集某些“激进先驱”观看色情影片、浏览黄色网站的上网记录，以达到损害其声誉、防止他人受其影响参与恐怖袭击的目的。
据美国媒体11月26日报道，上述内容来自最新 披露的一份美国国安局内部机密文件，由该局前雇员爱德华•斯诺登公之于众。文件中，国安局以6名穆斯林“人物样本”为例，说明“如何通过电子监控手段来知 悉目标人物的个人弱点，然后利用这些弱点来削弱其声誉、可信度和权威性”。
***宣称“伪善”指控威力巨大
美国国安局局长是这份文件的“发件人”，除国安局内部人员外，收件人还包括美国司法部、商务部和毒品药品监管局（DEA）的官员。文件中提及的6名样本人物均未面临任何恐怖指控，他们据信现居住在美国境外。
文件上标注的日期是2012年10月3日，其中 反复提到对于打击“激进先驱”而言，伪善指控威力巨大。“以往的通信情报估测报告显示，先驱人物这些利用激进言论煽动民众，一旦发现他们私下与公开场合言 行不一致，他们的权威性就会变得格外脆弱。”文件中还列举了一些可被有效利用的个人弱点，包括“上网观看性暴露影片”以及“与未经世事的少女谈话时使用低 级淫秽语言”等。
除了分析6名目标人物的网络活动内容外，国安局 还会审查他们的联络人清单。国安局认为，这些人通过在社交网站上分享视频短片来散播争议观点，从而令观看视频者变得更加激进。“观众中既有英语也有阿拉伯 语受众，其中不少是那些尚未接受极端观点但易受影响的人。”文件中指出，这些“激进先驱”的讲演最易在英国、德国、瑞典、肯尼亚、巴基斯坦、印度和沙特阿 拉伯等国家引起共鸣。
***突出针对性施行各个击破
美国国安局认为，利用电子监控公开其网络性活动，将会令这些“激进先驱”的个人信誉难以为继，“关注网络行踪，可以发现目标的潜在弱点。一旦把这些弱点与其性格缺陷或者信誉结合起来，用于改变外界或者追随者对其原有的看法，将会威力倍增”。
为了更加清楚地说明这一非常手段的效用，国安局还在文件附录中列明了每位目标人物的“激进观点”，以及可以被用来质疑其信誉的“个人弱点”。
其中一位目标人物的激进观点是“非穆斯林对伊斯 兰教是一个威胁”， “网上乱交”被注明为他的个人弱点。另一位目标人物，被国安局称为“受人尊敬的外国学者”，他认为“进攻性圣战是合理的”。针对此人，国安局标注的弱点是 “网上乱交”以及“发表文章前不核查事实”。第三位上榜目标人物是中东地区的知名媒体人，他宣称“美国制造了9•11恐怖袭击”，而国安局为其贴上的标签 是“生活奢华无度”。
文件中指明，国安局希望通过公开这些负面信息，间接打破这些目标人物头顶的“为圣战事业献身”的光环。
***专家指责国安局滥用权力
“文件中没有讨论具体的个人信息。”美国国家情报公共事务处处长肖恩•特纳26日表示：“美国政府运用一切可自由支配的合法手段，来阻止恐怖目标人物伤害美国、唆使他人付诸暴力，这不足为奇。”
斯图尔特•贝克曾担任过美国国安局法律总顾问，布什政府时期，他是国土安全部的高级官员。 “如果有人企图招募他人杀害美国民众，我们当然能破坏他们的声誉，而且我们应该这么做。”贝克认为，使用令人尴尬的个人信息来打击目标是合理的，“这是在揭穿他们的真面目”。
而美国民权同盟法务副总监贾米勒•贾弗则认为上述信息的曝光应当引起有关方面对于政府权力滥用的严肃认真对待。“我们必须谨记，国安局的监控活动应控制在有限范围内，但他们却在收集大量敏感信息，这几乎牵涉到所有人。”
贾弗还补充道：“不论你身在何处，有关你的政治观点、医疗病史、亲密关系和网上活动的一切信息都存储在国安局的数据库里。国安局宣称这些数据不会遭到滥用，但（被披露的）文件显示，对于‘滥用’这个词，他们有着不同的定义。”