\nsource<\/a>. He added that since the overall
\namount of data gathered is so huge, it can only be stored for a
\nlimited time \u2014 so \u201cretrospective searches\u201d<\/i> are not
\npossible. Snowden\u2019s records indicated the storage period to be up
\nto three days.<\/p>\n
But the NSA insider admitted that illegal American data is
\ngathered not only at the initial stage, but is sometimes
\n\u201cinadvertently collected\u201d<\/i> after the filter is applied
\n(picture it as a very precise Google search that nevertheless
\nproduces accidental results). After presumably being illegally
\nexamined by an NSA agent, this data is removed within \u201ca small
\nnumber of seconds<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NSA employee claimed that such \u201covercollection\u201d<\/i> of US
\ndata occurs routinely, but is regularly reported to overseers,
\nand the \u2018selector\u2019 search mechanisms are modified to produce
\nresults more relevant to catching actual terror suspects.<\/p>\n
In response to the revelations, NSA spokesperson Judith A. Emmel
\ntold The Times that the agency \u201ccollects only what it is
\nexplicitly authorized to collect,\u201d<\/i> and that its targets are
\n\u201cforeign powers and their agents, foreign organizations,
\nforeign persons or international terrorists.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"National](\"http:\/\/admin.rt.com\/files\/news\/20\/0a\/30\/00\/2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Obama also staunchly defended the NSA.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don’t have a domestic spying program. What we do have are
\nsome mechanisms where we can track a phone number or an email
\naddress that we know is connected to some sort of terrorist
\nthreat,\u201d<\/i> the President said on the Tonight Show.<\/p>\n
The validity of those statements seems to hinge on a somewhat
\nnarrow and self-defined meaning of what it is to \u201ccollect<\/i>\u201d
\ndata and to \u201ctarget.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Assuming that NSA agents work exclusively in good faith and never
\nbreak regulations, it is plausible that they \u201ccollect<\/i>\u201d
\nonly information from suspects, and that US individuals are never
\n\u201ctargeted<\/i>.\u201d That is, their names are never typed in as
\n\u2018selectors.\u2019<\/p>\n
But in a more general way, it is also clear that even the most
\nhonest-minded NSA staff will possess information relating to
\nmillions of innocent Americans, which they are not legally
\nallowed to read, and that occasionally this information will be
\naccessed on a routine basis – without any legal or practical
\nsupervision.<\/p>\n