National Security Agency(Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP)
The Obama administration expanded the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance of Americans' Internet traffic in an effort to combat foreign computer hacking,
The New York Times reports, citing documents it was given by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor.
The directive stemmed from two secret memos from Justice Department lawyers in 2012, the
Times reports.
USA TODAY
U.S. accuses China of hacking Westinghouse, U.S. Steel
"It should come as no surprise that the U.S. government gathers intelligence on foreign powers that attempt to penetrate U.S. networks and steal the private information of U.S. citizens and companies," Brian Hale of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told
The Times.
USA TODAY
Senate approves USA Freedom Act
Snowden, who in 2013 revealed the NSA's program of mass phone metadata collection, furnished the documents to
The Times and ProPublica.
On Wednesday, the Senate approved the USA Freedom Act, which ended that program and restored other recently expired provisions of the Patriot Act, the anti-terrorism law passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
The surveillance described in this most recent revelation consisted of the monitoring of addresses and so-called cybersignatures, according to
The Times, which it described as "patterns associated with computer intrusions," that were linked to foreign powers. Those restrictions were imposed by the Justice Department.
Despite those provisions, the documents provided by Snowden showed the NSA set out to go after hackers even if there were no proven ties to a foreign government.
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