

“Private sector partners began to send telephony and Internet content to NSA in October 2001.

The NSA immediately began cultivating an array of “private sector partners,” including telephone companies, Internet service providers and Web services, according to a top-secret report by the NSA inspector general’s office obtained by The Washington Post. Bush gave his approval for what became known in classified circles as the President’s Surveillance Program, or PSP. 11, 2001, terror attacks, American telephone companies offered the National Security Agency access to domestic calling records and their own analysis of calling patterns, a top-secret document shows.Īt first, the NSA could not accept the help because it did not have the legal authority to collect data domestically.
