Special Source Operations (SSO) is a division in the US

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...

(NSA) which is responsible for all programs aimed at collecting data from major fiber-optic cables and switches, both inside the US and abroad, and also through corporate partnerships. Its existence was revealed through documents provided by

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and s ...

to media outlets in 2013 and, according to him, it is the "crown jewel" of the NSA.

History

The program began in 2006, according to one of Snowden's documents, when the NSA was collecting the equivalent of "one Library of Congress every 14.4 seconds". ''The Washington Post'' described the official seal of the SSO division as something "that might have been parody: an eagle with all the world's cables in its grasp."

Notable programs

The five biggest collection programs of the Special Source Operations division are codenamed:Top Level Telecommunications
Some numbers about NSA's data collection
June 5, 2014 * DANCINGOASIS * SPINNERET * MOONLIGHTPATH * INCENSER * AZUREPHOENIX Other known programs include: *

PRISM Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...

– front-door collection using

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and the collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign po ...

(FISA) orders *

MUSCULAR Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscle ...

– back-door collection from Google and Yahoo private clouds *

Upstream collection Upstream collection is a term used by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States for intercepting telephone and Internet traffic from the Internet backbone, meaning major Internet cables and switches, both domestic and foreign. Beside ...

– which includes: **

FAIRVIEW Fairview may refer to: Places Canada * Fairview, Alberta (disambiguation) * Fairview, British Columbia * Fairview, Nova Scotia * Fairview, Kenyon Township, North Glengarry, Ontario * Fairview, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Fairview, ...

BLARNEY Blarney () is a suburban town within the administrative area of Cork City in Ireland. It is located approximately north-west of the city centre. It is the site of Blarney Castle, home of the legendary Blarney Stone. Blarney is part of the D� ...

STORMBREW STORMBREW is a secret internet surveillance program of the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States. It was disclosed in the summer of 2013 as part of the leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The FY 2013 budget for STORMBRE ...

** OAKSTAR

References

External links

INCENSER, or how NSA and GCHQ are tapping internet cables

{{National Security Agency National Security Agency

History

Notable programs

See also

References

External links