NSA not amassing Americans' photos for face-recognition program, chief says
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Noelle Swan Staff writer
Adm. Michael Rogers, chief of the National Security Agency, acknowledged Tuesday that the NSA uses facial recognition technology to investigate foreign intelligence and counterterrorism targets, but he insisted that photos of Americans are generally off limits unless those individuals are linked to an investigation of a foreign subject.
鈥淲e have very specific restrictions when it comes to US persons," Rogers told attendees of a Bloomberg Government cyber-security conference,聽. 鈥淚n broad terms, we have to stop what we鈥檙e doing if we come to the realization that somebody we鈥檙e monitoring or tracking has a US connection that we were unaware of.鈥�
The blogosphere erupted after a 聽on June 1, based on documents leaked by former-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, said the spy agency is amassing a database of millions of images for use in its facial recognition program.
When the Times asked NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines whether the agency is collecting images that Americans have shared on social media, she declined to comment.
Rogers's comments Tuesday imply that the NSA is not routinely sweeping up and curating images of Americans online or their driver's license photos. His willingness to discuss the issue with Bloomberg marks a step toward greater NSA transparency, something the admiral has advocated since he took the helm of the NSA and US Cyber Command in April.
During his Senate confirmation hearing in March, Rogers pledged to 鈥渂e as transparent as possible about what we鈥檙e doing [at the NSA] and why,鈥� .
The NSA track record for transparency would not be described as good. Secrecy is so ingrained in the NSA mission that the organization has been jokingly referred to as No Such Agency. The series of documents made public by Mr. Snowden and cooperating news outlets over the past year has helped to cement that reputation.
Snowden鈥檚 revelations have forced a national dialogue about how far the federal government should be able to reach into the private lives of citizens at home and abroad in the name of national security.
The House last month approved legislation to rein in the scope of NSA surveillance, which had been extended after 9/11 under the USA Patriot Act. The new measure, the USA Freedom Act, prohibits the bulk collection of data about domestic phone calls. The Senate has yet to vote on the bill.
Rogers told conference attendees that the "broad dialogue of what we鈥檙e doing and why is a good thing for us as a nation. I don鈥檛 question that for one minute,鈥� .聽Mr. Akerman's report notes that 鈥渉e neglected to mention that the agency and its allies worked behind the scenes last month to聽聽in a major surveillance reform bill.鈥�
