White House denies NSA domestic spying

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 -- The White House on Wednesday denied that the National Security Agency (NSA) has domestic Internet surveillance program, with its reach even broader than U. S. intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden has revealed.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated President Barack Obama's assertion that there was no domestic surveillance program going on in the country despite new media revelations about the scope of U.S. emails and Internet communications that can get scooped up by the NSA.

The NSA's surveillance efforts were "a narrowly focused program that is focused specifically at foreign intelligence," Earnest said at a daily briefing.

Domestic information was only occasionally accessed by the NSA, which amounted to "compliance issues" rather than systematic spying on U.S. citizens, he said.

Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the NSA's surveillance reach is broader than officials previously disclosed.

The newspaper cited current and former officials as saying that the NSA, which possesses only limited legal authority to spy on U. S. citizens, has built a surveillance network that has the capacity to reach roughly 75 percent of all U.S. Internet traffic in the hunt for foreign intelligence, including a wide array of communications by foreigners and Americans.

The newspaper said that in some cases, the NSA retains the content of emails and phone calls made with Internet technology between U.S. citizens, adding that these programs filter and gather information through partnership with major U.S. telecommunications companies.

The U.S. intelligence community has insisted the Internet surveillance program is restricted to foreign targets.

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