The NSA documents assert that by 2008, 300 terrorists had been captured using intelligence from XKeyscore.Īnalysts are warned that searching the full database for content will yield too many results to sift through.

One document notes that this is because 'strong selection itself gives us only a very limited capability' because 'a large amount of time spent on the web is performing actions that are anonymous.' The purpose of XKeyscore is to allow analysts to search the metadata as well as the content of emails and other internet activity, such as browser history, even when there is no known email account (a 'selector' in NSA parlance) associated with the individual being targeted.Īnalysts can also search by name, telephone number, IP address, keywords, the language in which the internet activity was conducted or the type of browser used. One training slide illustrates the digital activity constantly being collected by XKeyscore and the analyst's ability to query the databases at any time. But XKeyscore provides the technological capability, if not the legal authority, to target even US persons for extensive electronic surveillance without a warrant provided that some identifying information, such as their email or IP address, is known to the analyst. Under US law, the NSA is required to obtain an individualized Fisa warrant only if the target of their surveillance is a 'US person', though no such warrant is required for intercepting the communications of Americans with foreign targets. One presentation claims the program covers 'nearly everything a typical user does on the internet', including the content of emails, websites visited and searches, as well as their metadata.Īnalysts can also use XKeyscore and other NSA systems to obtain ongoing 'real-time' interception of an individual's internet activity. XKeyscore, the documents boast, is the NSA's 'widest reaching' system developing intelligence from computer networks – what the agency calls Digital Network Intelligence (DNI). The request is not reviewed by a court or any NSA personnel before it is processed. But training materials for XKeyscore detail how analysts can use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases by filling in a simple on-screen form giving only a broad justification for the search.

Xkeyscore search data