The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) provides the National Security Agency (NSA) with a technical and legal infrastructure that permits the spying agency to operate on US soil.
The FBI, a domestic US law enforcement agency, runs a clandestine, low profile unit that has become an �œindispensible partner” in the NSA�™s global spying operations especially those carried out within the US borders, the Foreign Policy magazine said in a revealing report.
The FBI collects huge volumes of digital information from at least nine American technology companies as part of the NSA’s PRISM system, it said.
Moreover, the report said that it was the FBI that petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to order Verizon Business Network Services, one of the nation�™s largest telecom carriers, to hand over the call records of millions of its customers to the NSA �œon an ongoing daily basis.”
In addition to helping the NSA with its spying activities, the FBI carries out its own �œsignals intelligence operations” and is trying to collect huge amounts of email and Internet data from US companies.
The operation, which the NSA once conducted but claims it has abandoned, is run by an obscure organization within the FBI called the Data Intercept Technology Unit, or DITU.
Documents disclosed by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, hint at DITU�™s role in the PRISM system and reveal that the unit is in fact the liaison between the NSA and many major technology companies including Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Apple.
The clandestine unit maintains the spying equipment that collects information from US technology companies including archived emails, chat-room sessions, social media posts, and Internet phone calls. The DITU then transmits that data to the NSA for analysis.
Recently, the DITU has helped create data-filtering software that the FBI wants telecom carriers and Internet service providers to install on their networks so that the US government can collect large volumes of data about emails and Internet traffic, the Foreign Policy said.
The DITU is located in an expansive compound at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, home of the FBI’s training academy and Operational Technology Division which runs all the bureau�™s intelligence collection, processing, and reporting.
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Source: Press TV