Published in News

US spooks use Prism to get a shag

by on26 August 2013

Very smooth Mr Bond

National Security Agency spooks have been using their agency’s enormous eavesdropping power to spy on love interests and get laid. A government report claims that there have been a handful of cases in the last decade — but it’s common enough to garner its own spycraft label: LOVEINT.

NSA Chief Compliance Officer John DeLong said there have been “very rare” instances of wilful violations of any kind in the past decade, and none have violated key surveillance laws.

“NSA has zero tolerance for wilful violations of the agency’s authorities” and responds “as appropriate,” the Top Spooks said.

The LOVEINT violations involved overseas communications, officials said, such as spying on a partner or spouse. In each instance, the employee was punished either with an administrative action or termination. We assume that means they were fired and not dispatched in a Berlin wood with a bullet in the back of the head.

Most of the incidents, officials said, were self-reported. Such admissions can arise, for example, when an employee takes a polygraph tests as part of a renewal of a security clearance.

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