``The broad scope of the court orders, and the nature of the procedures set out in the documents, appear to clash with assurances from President Obama and senior intelligence officials that the NSA could not access Americans' call or email information without warrants.
The documents also show that discretion as to who is actually targeted under the NSA's foreign surveillance powers lies directly with its own analysts, without recourse to courts or superiors - though a percentage of targeting decisions are reviewed by internal audit teams on a regular basis.''
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/20/fisa-court-nsa-without-warran
Below are two pdf files of documents that outline the provisions for surveillance of US and non-US targets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/20/exhibit-a-procedures-nsa-document
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/20/exhibit-b-nsa-procedures-document
One of the more interesting provisions is the use of foreign governments for translation purposes. The NSA can send its data to foreign governments for translation! Of course foreign governments are obligated not keep copies or use the information. Of course they are. If you can't trust foreign governments, who can you trust?
Another interesting quote:
``An N.S.A. spokeswoman, Judith Emmel, said the agency does not use foreign partners to evade American restrictions. `Any allegation that N.S.A. relies on its foreign partners to circumvent U.S. law is absolutely false,' she said. `N.S.A. does not ask its foreign partners to undertake any intelligence activity that the U.S. government would be legally prohibited from undertaking itself.' ''
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/22/us/snowden-espionage-act.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Why do I think every denial is an admission?
CG