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(Updated: January 19, 2018) Since the start of the Snowden-revelations, we not only learned about the various collection programs and systems of the National Security Agency (NSA), but also about the various legal authorities under which the agency collects Signals Intelligence (SIGINT). Bceause these rules are rather complex, the following overview will show which laws and regulations govern the operations of the NSA, showing what they are allowed to collect where and under which conditions. Also mentioned are various collection programs that run under these authorities. The overview provides a general impression of the most important elements of the various laws and regulations and does not pretend to be complete in every detail. For example, provisions for emergency collection are not included. Also, some of these laws and regulations govern the work of other US intelligence agencies too, but here the focus is on the NSA. Collection INSIDE the US: Targeted collection - US persons ...

(Updated: December 29, 2018) After providing lists of NSA-related codenames , abbreviations and SIGADs , we now publish a list of the designations of the numerous divisions and units of the NSA organization itself. Unlike other intelligence agencies such as CIA or DIA, NSA never disclosed its internal organizational structure. The following overview has been reconstructed based upon information which over the years became available from various sources, including many documents from the Snowden-leaks. This list only gives the alphanumeric designations, the official name and, if available, the logo of NSA branches. For a description of what the most important divisions do, click the links in the list or visit the websites mentioned under Links and Sources. In 2013, the following numbers of people worked for NSA/CSS: - NSA : ca. 21,500 civilian personnel and ca. 13,500 military personnel - CSS (tactical SIGINT collection units): ca. 12,000 military personnel > Update: In 2016, a m...

(Updated: November 28, 2018) Top level telecommunications often involve information that has to be kept secret. To ensure that, governments have systems to protect sensitive information by classifying it, which is best known from document markings like "Top Secret". Here we'll explain the classification system of the United States, which is far more complex than most people think, also because it's one of the world's biggest secrecy systems. In 2012 almost 5 million(!) people in the US had a clearance for access to classified information, * a number that was brought back to 4,2 million by 2015. * The deeper parts of this classification system are classified, but some new details and codewords have been revealed in documents from the recent Snowden-leaks. Classification markings All documents that contain classified information, whether digital or hard copy, have to be marked with the appropriate markings. These are shown in the classification or banner line, whi...