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Malcolm wrote:They're totally regulated.

If it turns out that the CIA was spying on the Senate committee that oversees the agency, it would be an outrageous violation of separation of powers.

CIA Director John Brennan reacted by asking for caution until the facts are clearly established.

"I am deeply dismayed that some members of the Senate have decided to make spurious allegations about CIA actions that are wholly unsupported by the facts," Brennan said in a statement on Wednesday.

The documents also indicate that some of these viruses disable targets’ ability to use encryption software to mask Internet activity or send emails privately. This and other malware efforts are part of what the NSA documents call its “Owning the Net” program.

However, Ledgett disagrees, saying there were other actions Snowden could have taken.

"He had alternatives," Ledgett said. "Characterizing him as a whistleblower actually hurts legitimate whistleblowing activities."

The winning entries about the NSA's spy programs showed the government has collected information about millions of Americans' phone calls and emails based on its classified interpretations of laws passed after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Intelligence leaker Edward Snowden surprised the audience of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual question and answer call-in show by asking him if Russia has a mass surveillance program.

Snowden, who revealed American surveillance secrets by leaking sensitive documents from the National Security Agency, submitted his question to Putin via video.

Putin, a former Soviet KGB agent, began his response saying he would speak professionally from one spy to another. He denied that Russia has a mass surveillance program, saying it was against Russian law. He said Russian law enforcement only uses electronic surveillance in specific cases to catch criminals.

TPRJones wrote:There's no way to tell tone from that article. Was it a planned spin question? Or is Snowden actually digging into something over there and will soon be dumping intel about Russia's giant warehouses of hard-drives filling up with recorded phone calls and captured emails?

TheCatt wrote:Seriously. It's him being a plant to keep Russia happy and himself alive.

The documents, which detail many instances of wrongdoing from 2001 to 2013, were released following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought forth by the American Civil Liberties Union. In an executive summary released on the NSA’s website, the agency says the errors “occur naturally in any large, complex system” and insists it goes ”to great lengths to ensure compliance with the Constitution, laws and regulations.”

Other instances of wrongdoing, the NSA insists, were done as a result of human error rather than intentional improprieties. The agency says employees involved in these activities were properly disciplined.