NSA tracks cellphone locations under executive order

The US National Security Agency collects cellphone location data from around the world under a 1981 executive order signed by former president Ronald Reagan.

Although Congress never authorized Executive Order 12333, the NSA said on Friday that the massive data collection does not violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes warrantless wiretapping by the spy agency, according to The Hill newspaper.

A NSA spokeswoman said the agency “tries to avoid” collecting Americans’ cellphone location information. “Again, the Agency’s EO 12333 collection is outward-facing. We are not intentionally acquiring domestic information through this capability,” the spokeswoman said.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the NSA collects almost 5 billion cellphone records a day, enabling the agency to track individuals’ movements and map their relationships.

Top-secret documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden reveal that new projects have been created to analyze the huge amounts of data, providing the US intelligence community with an unimaginable mass surveillance tool.

The scale, scope and potential impact of the new leaks put this spying tool on top of all the other NSA surveillance programs exposed since June. NSA agents can find cellphones anywhere in the world, retrace their movements and expose hidden relationships among individuals using them.

“The paths that we travel every day can reveal an extraordinary amount about our political, professional, and intimate relationships,” Catherine Crump, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement Wednesday after the NSA program was revealed.