BIG BROTHER

Report: NSA Surveillance Even Bigger

Can reach roughly 75 percent of all Internet traffic.

The National Security Agency’s surveillance program is even larger than has been previously disclosed, sources told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. The system can reach roughly 75 percent of all U.S. Internet traffic, including communication between Americans and foreigners. Codenamed Blarney, Fairview, Oakstar, Lithium, and Stormbrew, the programs are carried out with telecom companies, and filter and gather information from the communications. Although the programs’ main goal is to intercept foreign terrorists’ communication, sources say it’s purely domestic communication that is more likely to be incidentally intercepted. A U.S. official insisted, however, that the NSA is “not wallowing willy-nilly” through Americans’ chatter, and “we want high-grade ore.”