[ABNA.IR] Snowden told James Bamford from the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
that the intercepts included communications of Arabs, and Paleostinian-Americans, whose relatives in Israel and the Paleostinian territories could become targets based on the information.
The material included "unevaluated and unminimized transcripts, gists, facsimiles, telex, voice and Digital Network Intelligence metadata and content," according to documents leaked by Snowden.
The whistleblower said the data was routinely transferred to the Israeli intelligence organization known as the Unit 8200.
The Israeli intelligence used the info to force the Paleostinians into becoming collaborators.
The snooping has been carried out based on a deal between the US spy agency and the Israeli intelligence since 2009.
Snowden began leaking classified intelligence documents in June 2013, revealing the extent of the NSA's spying activities.
He revealed that the spy agency has been collecting the phone records of millions of Americans and foreign nationals as well as politicians around the world.
Following the revelations, Snowden fled the United States to avoid espionage charges.
In August 2013, Russia granted him asylum for one year and last month it granted him permission to stay in the country until August 2017.
A US Department of Defense report said the extent of damage to the US national security from the leak of secret NSA documents by Snowden is staggering. |