US government uses NSA ‘Google’ to access data records

The US National Security Agency (NSA) shares vast amounts of communications data with the country’s government agencies using a search engine similar to Google, according to investigative website The Intercept, RIA Novosti reports. 

NSA’s search tool, called ICREACH, makes “more than 850 billion records about phone calls, emails, cellphone locations and internet chats” available to nearly two dozen US government agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), The Intercept reported on Tuesday citing classified documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

“The documents provide the first definitive evidence that the NSA has for years made massive amounts of surveillance data directly accessible to domestic law enforcement agencies,” The Intercept noted.

The search engine provides access to all communications records collected under a Reagan-era presidential directive known as Executive Order 12333, which targets foreign communications networks. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed that ICREACH shares data that is swept up by programs authorized under Executive Order 12333 in a statement to The Intercept.

ICREACH does not search through the American communications records that the government monitors under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. However, because there is little oversight of surveillance under Executive Order 12333, American records are included in ICREACH, along with data from foreign intelligence sources such as the British Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ).

Over 1,000 analysts from US agencies have access to ICREACH. The Intercept notes that the scope of the program may have broadened since the classified documents it obtained were released.