NSA: The Domestic Surveillance Problem
8 AT&T buildings across the United States serve another purpose
By Jackson Littlewood
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
ONE OF THE MOST CONTENTIOUS DEBATES in the US in the post-9/11 era has been whether or not the US should use surveillance programs run by the NSA to try to prevent more terrorist attacks. Proponents of the NSA’s operations argue that they are essential in the fight against foreign and domestic terrorist organizations. Opponents argue that not only are the programs ineffective, but that they are blatant violations of the 4th amendment of the United States Constitution, which protects from warrant-less search and seizure.
Regardless of who is right in that debate, it is clear that proponents of such programs have had their way when it comes to implementing surveillance policies. After 9/11, Congress overwhelmingly passed the USA Patriot Act, an incredibly big and broad piece of legislation intended to give the government more power to collect information domestically and internationally. While Congress passing the law did give the government the authority to increase surveillance, many of these programs were established independent of the Patriot Act. In fact, many members of Congress didn’t even know about the existence of programs like Prism, which Edward Snowden exposed in a massive leak in 2013.
Given the secretive nature of the NSA, we seldom get to hear about these programs. However, on June 25th, Ryan Gallagher and Henrik Moltke of the Intercept broke a fascinating new story. They identified 8 AT&T buildings in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C that are allegedly part of an NSA spying program called FAIRVIEW, which was established back in 1985. According to the Intercept’s report, these buildings have, “networking equipment that transports large quantities of internet traffic across the United States and the world. A body of evidence …indicates that the buildings are central to an NSA spying initiative that has for years monitored billions of emails, phone calls, and online chats passing across U.S. territory.” The program has collected over 400 billion records of people since its inception under the FAIRVIEW program in 2003.
One notable feature of these facilities is that they very much exist in plain sight. In virtually all of the aforementioned cities, these spying centers are located right in the downtown areas. In Washington D.C, AT&T’s building is located just a few blocks from the US Capitol.
On top of that, each building seems to have a slightly different function. They’re each an organ trying to keep the surveillance beast functioning. For example, the Atlanta facility is known as having, “splitter” equipment. According to a Mark Klein, a former Atlanta AT&T technician, the facility, “was used to make copies of internet traffic as AT&T’s networks processed it. The copied data would then be diverted to “SG3” equipment … which was a code name AT&T used for activities related to NSA surveillance”.
The building in San Francisco is described as the operation’s, “nerve center” and has been crucial to the program for years. In fact, in 2006, a lawsuit was filed against AT&T by the digital rights group, “ Electronic Frontier Foundation”. They sued for, “violating privacy law by collaborating with the NSA in the massive, illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans’ communications.” The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in 2007, and in 2008, AT&T was granted retroactive immunity from liability under the FISA Amendments Act passed by Congress. The Act, “allows the Attorney General to require the dismissal of the lawsuits over the telecoms’ participation in the warrant-less surveillance program if the government secretly certifies to the court that the surveillance did not occur, was legal, or was authorized by the president”.
That is important because it sets a crucial precedent for cases involving surveillance collusion between telecoms like AT&T and the NSA. Under the precedent set in 2008, if a telecom participates in a warrant-less surveillance program, they will almost certainly face no consequences. The problem with that is that the government has a warped view of what is legal and what is not. The fourth amendment of the United States Constitution says that in order to conduct a reasonable search/seizure, a warrant must be issued upon probable cause. But if the whole program is conducting searches without a warrant, then there is no way that it can be constitutional.
Some readers may think that their information has not been received, stored or copied through this program because AT&T isn’t their telecom. However, via NSA documents obtained by the Intercept, “(the NSA) values AT&T not only because it ‘has access to information that transits the nation,’ but also because it maintains unique relationships with other phone and internet providers.” This means that if your phone provider is Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc., or if your internet provider is Century Link, Xfinity, etc., it is unlikely that you are safe from the NSA’s surveillance programs, not to mention the programs they use without the assistance of private companies.
There are many political issues that politicians in Washington have varying opinions on based on who is in control of Congress and the presidency. When Obama was president and the democrats had control of congress, women’s advocacy groups and immigrants felt empowered. Now that Trump has the White House and Republicans have Congress, those groups are feeling threatened. NSA surveillance, however, is an issue that the vast majority of the political establishment in Washington continues to have the same opinion on regardless of who is in power. Republicans and a good portion of Democrats seem to agree that these programs are a necessary evil in the fight against terrorism, even when confronted with evidence that they haven’t stopped a single terrorist attack.
And while the government has led the charge in warrantless surveillance on Americans, this story, uncovered by incredible investigative reporting from the intercept, shows how private enterprise can do just as much to assist the NSA.
