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Edward Snowden's National Security Agency

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On November 4th, 1952, the President Harry Truman established the National Security Agency (NSA), the government agency responsible for collecting and processing domestic and foreign intelligence. The Truman presidency formed the agency in response to the failure of its intelligence predecessors-- the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA) and Army Security Agency (ASA), formed during World War II to decipher messages sent and received by the Axis powers, failed due to lack of coordination between the intelligence agencies, the CIA, and the FBI; the Cipher Bureau and Military Intelligence Branch, Section 8 (MI-8) and "Black Chamber" were established to monitor Germany's activities during World War I were shut down by the U.S. Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson, on the grounds that "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail." At the time of its formation, the NSA was a top secret agency, and was commonly referred to as the "No Such Agency" by officials to reflect this. …show more content…
The NSA's activities have been a controversial topic of debate, especially in the aftermath of Edward Snowden's revelations of the NSA's intrusive spying on Americans as well as foreigners. Through programs such as PRISM and the USA PATRIOT Act, the NSA has access to all communications made via Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, YouTube, AOL, Skype, Apple, and Paltalk, and doesn't need a search warrant to access such

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