NSA Provides Heavily Redacted Report on Its "Improper Surveillance" of Americans

The elves at the NSA were certainly busy this holiday season. Besides their usual snooping activities, the agency prepared a report on instances of its "improper surveillance" of American citizens. The NSA did not exactly go into this project willingly; it was compelled via a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The agency released its heavily redacted report on who was naughty or nice on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. A story about the information appeared in Bloomberg; the piece was later linked in a Washington Post roundup. The timing virtually guaranteed minimal public attention to an issue on which left-wing occupiers and right-wing liberty lovers should theoretically find common ground.

The NSA would not have even entertained providing these crumbs of knowledge of its business, except that Edward Snowden's revelations forced its hand. Coincidentally (or maybe not), a former naval officer filed suit this week in Kansas against the producers of Citizenfour, the Laura Poitras-directed documentary about Snowden's efforts to make public what the NSA most devoutly wished to reamin concealed. The suit alleges, among other things, the producers' intent to profiteer from the film. The story about the litigation appears in commondreams.org; a link to a PDF of the court papers appears courtesy of the information technology news website theregister.co.uk.