Turbulence (NSA)
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Turbulence is a United States National Security Agency (NSA) information-technology project started c. 2005. It was developed in small, inexpensive "test" pieces rather than one grand plan like its failed predecessor, the Trailblazer Project. It also includes offensive cyberwarfare capabilities, like injecting malware into remote computers. The U.S. Congress criticized the project in 2007 for having similar bureaucratic problems as the Trailblazer Project.[1]
Criticism
According to Siobhan Gorman in a 2007 Baltimore Sun article, "The conclusion in Congress, two former government officials said, was that Turbulence was over budget, not delivering and poorly led, and that there was little or no strategy to pull it all together."[2]
Link to Trailblazer
Trailblazer, the predecessor of Turbulence, had been cancelled in 2006 after a
One of the Trailblazer whistleblowers who helped with the inspector-general report,
Programs
Turbulence includes nine core programs, of which names are known:[2]
- TURMOIL
- Turmoil is involved in the process of decrypting communications.[5]
- TUTELAGE
- TRAFFICTHIEF
- According to an SIGINT viewer for data analysis."[7]
- According to an
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A reference to TRAFFICTHIEF in an XKeyscore slide
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A Reference to TRAFFICTHIEF in aPRISMslide
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A reference to Turmoil in an NSA presentation
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Memo celebrating the launch of TURBULENCE, Mentions TURMOIL, TUTELAGE,XKEYSCORE, and TAO
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FAIRVIEW presentation: reference to TURMOIL
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Technical details of MUSCULAR, reference to TURMOIL
See also
- ECHELON
- DCSNet
- Red Hook
- Stellar Wind
- Thinthread
- William Binney
- Mark Klein
- Edward Snowden
- Thomas Tamm
- Russ Tice
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-385-52132-1. p. 325–340.
- ^ a b Gorman, Siobhan (February 11, 2007). "Costly NSA Initiative Has a Shaky Takeoff – Vexing Snags for Cyberspace Tool 'Turbulence'". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
- ^ a b Mayer, Jane (May 23, 2011). "The Secret Sharer – Is Thomas Drake an Enemy of the State?". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
- ^ "Transcript of Sentencing Proceeding, United States of America v. Thomas A. Drake" (PDF). United States District Court of Maryland. July 15, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
- ^ James Ball; Julian Borger; Glenn Greenwald (September 5, 2013). "Revealed: how US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security". Retrieved September 6, 2013.
- ^ Greenwald, Glenn (July 31, 2013). "XKeyscore: NSA tool collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'". Retrieved August 5, 2013.
- ^ Ambinder, Marc (August 14, 2013). "An Educated Guess About How the NSA Is Structured". The Atlantic.com. Retrieved August 14, 2013.