Report: NSA Monitors Cellphone Locations Worldwide

FILE - In this Oct. 31, 2013, file photo, a passenger checks her cell phone before a flight in Boston. The Federal Communications Commission might be ready to permit cellphone calls in flight. Old concerns about el... FILE - In this Oct. 31, 2013, file photo, a passenger checks her cell phone before a flight in Boston. The Federal Communications Commission might be ready to permit cellphone calls in flight. Old concerns about electronics being a danger to airplane navigation have been debunked. And carriers could make some extra cash charging passengers to call a loved one from 35,000 feet. But that extra money might not be worth the backlash from fliers who view overly-chatty neighbors as another inconvenience to go along with smaller seats and stuffed overhead bins. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The National Security Agency tracks the locations of cellphones worldwide, according to documents leaked to the Washington Post by former NSA contracter Edward Snowden.

The NSA collects 5 million records a day in order to track the movements of individuals, according to documents and intelligence officials interviewed by the Washington Post. The agency taps into cables that connect cellphone networks globally.

The NSA does not purposefully target American devices, but collects data on Americans’ locations “incidentially,” according to the Post.

Robert Litt, general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told the Post that the NSA is not purposefully collecting bulk data on U.S. cellphone locations.

“There is no element of the intelligence community that under any authority is intentionally collecting bulk cellphone location information about cellphones in the United States,” he said.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: