We realize through various disclosures and leaked files that the USA’s National Security Agency (NSA) have amassed a large quantity of info on individuals and areas they deem “interesting”, but how would you make this info accessible to local law enforcement agencies?
If you’re the NSA, you of course build your own Google-like search engine. The custom search engine lets about 12 government agencies to tap into more than 850 billion records of mobile phone places, e-mails, phone calls, and web chats collected by the NSA over time.
The classified files obtained by news publication The Intercept “provide the very first conclusive evidence the NSA has for years made substantial levels of surveillance information directly reachable to national law enforcement agencies,” it wrote.
As stated by the records detailing the preparation stages of ICREACH, the key contributors for the search engine is the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The NSA has admitted that it shares some of its own accumulated information with national agencies such as the FBI, but details about the procedure and range of its own sharing have remained shrouded in secrecy,” The Intercept wrote.
The arrival of ICREACH could be traced back to an almost 20-year old programme called Job CRISSCROSS where the DEA as well as the CIA built up a database of cellphone directories and mobile charging records, to link interested parties.