The NSA is using keywords to search the contents of most communications that pass in and out of the United States, the New York Times reports. The surveillance is far broader than the programs the agency has previously admitted to, which are known to “inadvertently” collect the communications of American citizens who directly or indirectly communicate with foreign targets.

An anonymous intelligence official says the NSA searches for communications containing “selectors,” or keywords, related to surveillance targets by making a temporary copy of most emails and texts that cross the border for analysts to review. The process reportedly requires at least one party to be located overseas, and does not allow for “retrospective searching.” The cross-border collection was authorized in 2008 under the FISA Amendments Act, the same law that gave the green light to the PRISM program.

According to one former intelligence official, the practice of capturing communications that are “about” surveillance targets rather than to or from them caused debate within the Obama administration. That collection process — which occurs without a warrant — is likely part of the NSA’s “Upstream” operations, which use fiberoptic intercepts to filter through vast quantities of raw internet traffic. Such dragnet operations often involve the complicity of telecommunications companies, as evidenced in 2006 when Mark Klein, a former network engineer, revealed that the NSA had installed equipment at an AT&T switching facility which diverted internet traffic into government databanks.

In a timely appearance, National Security Agency director General Keith Alexander took the stage today at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas hoping to “put the facts on the table” about recent revelations regarding his agency’s various surveillance programs.

“This is perhaps one of the biggest issues facing our country today,” said Alexander, claiming that he would “answer every question to the fullest extent possible.” But the talk served largely as an overview of what we’ve already learned about the NSA’s programs following disclosures from Edward Snowden. Alexander defended the agency by repeating that the metadata program which collects the phone records of all Verizon customers does not collect the content of communications, and that only 35 NSA analysts are allowed to run queries against the database.

“This is perhaps one of the biggest issues facing our country today.”

One slide in the presentation revealed a screenshot of that database, showing fields for the time and duration of the call, the phone numbers of the participants, and the origin of the data — in this case the “business records” provision of the Patriot Act. He claimed the program helps the NSA “connect the dots in the least intrusive way that we can,” and that separate content collection programs like PRISM have helped the US and its allies “disrupt and understand 54 terror-related activities.”

The room had a tense atmosphere as the general gave his keynote, the second he’s delivered at a major security conference in Las Vegas. Last year he was dressed down in a t-shirt and jeans, giving a recruitment speech at Black Hat’s sister conference, Def Con, where he received a healthy dose of heckling.

“If you disagree with what we’re doing then you should help twice as much.”

Today’s keynote received a similar response. Before the speech had even begun, security guards confiscated a carton of eggs that was being passed around by the audience. When Alexander began speaking about what the NSA is trying to protect, someone in the crowd shouted “Freedom!”

“Exactly. We stand for freedom,” Alexander replied.

“Bullshit!” another heckler retorted. Later, Alexander opined that terrorists are attacking the United States because they wanted to impose Sharia law and see the country as a threat. “They want to attack us ’cause we’re bombing them!” said another audience member.

But unlike at Def Con, much of the suit-and-tie crowd at Black Hat seemed sympathetic to Alexander as he calmly responded to the random critics. Toward the end of the speech, another heckler yelled at him to “read the constitution,” to which he replied, “I have. You should too.” Portions of the large convention hall, which included scores of federal agents, erupted in raucous applause.

“You’re the greatest gathering of tech talent anywhere in the world,” Alexander said to the audience, saying that the NSA’s critics should help them “come up with a better solution” for defending the country while preserving civil liberties and privacy. “The whole reason I came here was to ask you to help us to make it better, and if you disagree with what we’re doing then you should help twice as much.”

Watch Alexander’s keynote below:

Black Hat USA 2013 Gen. Alexander Keynote (via Black Hat)

Six activists from the anti-surveillance group Restore the Fourth paid an unexpected visit to the office of a New York Congressman in protest of the vote which allowed the National Security Agency to continue collecting Americans’ phone records without a warrant.

The action is intended to call out Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and the more than 200 other members of Congress that voted down an amendment last week aimed at curtailing the NSA’s collection of domestic calling records. The group said they wouldn’t leave until Meeks apologizes for his “no” vote and commits to fighting against surveillance programs which collect data on Americans without a warrant or suspicion of wrongdoing.

“Rep. Meeks #Voted4BigBrother and against the 4th Amendment.”

“Representative Meeks #Voted4BigBrother and against the 4th Amendment, his constituents, and the rights of every American,” said Ben Doernberg, a Restore the Fourth organizer and one of the sit-in’s participants. “Perhaps Meeks’ largest election campaign donor over the last 3 years, AT&T, which charges taxpayers $325 for every wiretap it activates, played a role in his vote.” The group also delivered a “thank you” cake to the office of another New York Congressman, Rep. Hakim Jeffries (D-NY), who voted for the anti-spying amendment.

Led by Reps. Justin Amash (R-MI) and John Conyers (D-MI), the amendment proposed adding language to a defense spending bill forbidding the NSA’s indiscriminate collection of phone records by limiting the program to “people suspected of involvement in a terrorist plot.” The measure received strong bipartisan support, but was narrowly defeated in a 205 to 217 vote after last-minute lobbying from the intelligence community and the Obama administration. However, the close call has demonstrated strong support for NSA reform within Congress. Recent polling also indicates a “significant shift in public opinion” on the balance between security and civil liberties following last month’s disclosures from Edward Snowden.

The sit-in was a change of tactics for Restore the Fourth, which previously organized anti-NSA rallies that took place in over 100 US cities on July 4th. Unlike those previous actions, where organizers instructed participants to not engage in “civil disobedience,” members of Restore the Fourth said they would not leave the Congressman’s office until their demands were met, and broadcasted the event on Ustream while taking questions on Reddit.

The group says its next rally will be held on August 4th as part of “1984 Day” in New York City’s Bryant Park.

Update [3:50pm]: Rep. Meeks has delayed his flight to Washington, DC and is now meeting with members of Restore the Fourth.

Update [5:15pm]: It looks like Restore the Fourth at least got the discussion they wanted. The group has decided to leave Rep. Meeks office after an “intense 20-minute debate,” and should be posting a video of their meeting shortly.

“I do not believe we’ve had a violation of the Fourth Amendment as interpreted by the courts thus far,” said Rep. Meeks during his meeting with the Reddit-based group this afternoon. He emphasized the importance of the FISA courts which issue the recurring surveillance orders, but wouldn’t comment specifically on whether he believes the process comports with the text of the Fourth Amendment, which requires a warrant to specify the persons or places to be searched, and the things to be seized.

Read more: Everything You Need to Know About PRISM

The tempo of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan has slowed significantly in recent months, and anonymous officials tell The Associated Press that the reason has to do with the public’s intensifying criticism of the program, which has reportedly killed hundreds of civilians since 2004.

While the attacks are by no means stopping, their frequency has reached a low not seen since the secret program began in Pakistan, with 16 strikes occurring so far this year. That’s a far cry from the peak of 122 strikes in 2010, according to data from the New America Foundation, whose most recent estimates show those strikes killed 97 alleged “militants” and four “others” in 2013. Current and former intelligence officials tell AP that public scrutiny has led the program to be more focused on “high value” targets, supposedly dropping the controversial practice of “signature strikes,” which attack anonymous individuals based solely on behavior observed in the field.

Recent estimates show drones killed 97 “militants” and four “others” in 2013

The statements seem to be in line with those from President Obama, who said during a speech in May that he would roll back the CIA program and limit targets to those who constitute a “continuing, imminent threat.” But a Justice Department legal memo leaked prior to the speech broadly defines “imminent” to include any plot which “may or may not occur in the near future.” The administration has also defended its demonstrated ability to execute — without charge or trial — American citizens who fit that criteria.

The decreased number of strikes comes after massive public outrage in Pakistan, where the high court in Peshawar has ruled that US drone strikes constitute war crimes and violations of the country’s sovereignty. Ben Emmerson, the UN’s special rapporteur on civil rights, reached similar conclusions during his own investigation of the ongoing US drone campaign. In the past, Pakistani officials have publicly spoken out against drone strikes while secretly consenting to them behind closed doors. But anonymous US officials told the AP that the strikes decreased after Pakistani officials made it clear the attacks could not continue at the current rate, citing concerns over the civilian death toll.

After an unexpected and widely-supported bipartisan effort to rein in the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance powers, an amendment which would have stopped the agency from collecting the phone records of millions of Americans was narrowly defeated in a 205 to 217 vote in the House of Representatives.

Led by Michigan Congressman Justin Amash, the amendment was attached to an annual defense budget bill, seeking to defund the NSA’s “ongoing, daily” collection of Americans’ phone records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. The effort had gathered an impressive outpouring of support from both sides of the aisle after passing the House Rules Committee on Monday, causing panicked responses from the Obama administration and the intelligence community.

“The NSA’s interpretation is that all data is relevant, all the time. That is simply wrong.”

The high-speed debate on the House floor, while brief, marked the first formal and open deliberation on the issue in Congress since a classified court order revealed that the NSA seizes domestic phone records under secret interpretations of the Patriot Act. “To think that the Congress has substantial oversight of this program is simply incorrect,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who has previously criticized the NSA’s assertion that the phone records of all Americans can be considered “relevant” to a terrorism investigation under the statute. She was followed by other supporters, sounding off one-by-one in a series of rapid-fire 30-second statements. “The NSA’s interpretation is that all data is relevant all the time,” said Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX). “That is simply wrong.”

NSA defenders responded by echoing the White House and intelligence community’s claims that the metadata program is an indispensable tool that saves American lives. “You may have heard the expression that in order to find the needle in a haystack, we first need the haystack. This takes a leaf blower and blows away the entire haystack,” said Rep. Joe Cotton (R-AR), dismissively describing the metadata as “an excel spreadsheet with five columns.” But Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who authored the original Patriot Act, clarified that the amendment wouldn’t eliminate the agency’s power to collect phone records under Section 215 — it would only limit its scope to “people suspected of involvement in a terrorist plot.”

“This takes a leaf blower and blows away the entire haystack.”

While Amash’s blitz failed, the surprisingly close vote suggests there’s strong support for future legislation curtailing NSA surveillance. The effort managed to generate some unconventional alliances, pitting Libertarian Republicans and privacy-minded Democrats against members of their own party loyal to the intelligence community and the Obama administration.

“National security is of paramount importance, yet the NSA’s dragnet collection of Americans’ phone records violates innocent Americans’ privacy rights and should not continue as its exists today,” said Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), a NSA critic and member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, after the vote. “I am urging the president and the NSA to join this growing bipartisan coalition and work with Congress to focus the NSA’s surveillance efforts on terrorists and spies — not innocent Americans.”

A showdown is set to take place in the US House of Representatives today in what many hope will be a watershed moment for the fight against the National Security Agency’s dragnet surveillance programs. After weeks of outrage from members of Congress and the public, a novel amendment to an annual defense appropriations bill is looking to smother what some consider the most pernicious aspect of the spying activities exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The amendment, led by Representative Justin Amash (R-MI), would stop the NSA’s phone metadata program from collecting millions of Americans’ communications records without suspicion of a crime. The proposal comes after a secret court order revealed that Verizon is being forced to turn over all its customers’ calling records to the NSA on an “ongoing, daily basis,” and the threat has become real enough that the federal government is now intervening in an attempt to stop the amendment from passing.

“This blunt approach is not the product of an informed, open or deliberative process.”

On Tuesday, NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander held a unexpected, four-hour confidential briefing, presumably to try and persuade lawmakers into rejecting the proposal when it comes to vote this week. On the House floor, Rep. Richard Nugent (R-FL), the sponsor of a different amendment to the defense bill, cautioned against Amash’s proposal, saying that while he is angered by the NSA revelations, “to try and legislate these issues atop a [Department of Defense] appropriations bill isn’t the right way to go about it.”

The White House also issued a panicked statement, protesting that the amendment is “not the product of an informed, open or deliberative process” and urging instead for “an approach that appropriately takes into account the need for a reasoned review of what tools can best secure the nation.”

Man, I really hate that closed process where I can read bills, debates are open on CSPAN, and I can hold my senator accountable for his vote

— Amie Stepanovich (@astepanovich) July 24, 2013

But a lack of information and open dialogue is exactly what’s been at the core of the controversy surrounding the NSA programs. Speaking yesterday at the Center for American Progress, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) said that the public was “actively misled” about the metadata program, warning that “the combination of increasingly advanced technology with a breakdown in the checks and balances that limit government action could lead us to a surveillance state that cannot be reversed.”

“By allowing the executive to secretly follow a secret interpretation of the law under the supervision of a secret, non-adversarial court and occasional secret congressional hearings, how close are we to James Madison’s ‘very definition of tyranny?'” he said during the ominous speech.

Wyden and Senator Mark Udall (D-CO), both members of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, have been warning for years that these secret FISA courts give the NSA broad surveillance authorities which go far beyond the scope of the law as written. Other members of Congress, who are not briefed to the same extent as the two senators, joined in loudly demanding that the program be reined in at a hearing of the House judiciary committee last week.

A new poll published today by The Washington Post says that 74 percent of Americans believe the metadata program has intruded on privacy rights. But of those polled, 57 percent still say they believe it’s more important that the government be able to investigate terrorist threats.

Meanwhile, online activist groups like Demand Progress and Fight For The Future are encouraging Americans to call their representatives and voice support for Amash’s amendment, which is among 100 other proposals expected to be voted on starting today. Even if passed, the amendment would still depend on the passage of the underlying defense appropriations bill, but Wyden said the fact that it has gotten this far is “another step, as i’ve outlined, in the march to a real debate” on NSA surveillance.

Pres Obama opposes my #NSA amendment, but American people overwhelmingly support it. Will your Rep stand with the WH or the Constitution?

— Justin Amash (@repjustinamash) July 24, 2013

In a new report about the rapid expansion of the US National Security Agency, The Washington Post details a cellphone location tracking program whose existence the agency initially seemed to deny following disclosures from whistleblower Edward Snowden. As part of the agency’s considerable post-9/11 growth, the NSA assembled a team in the basement of its headquarters in Fort Meade whose purpose is to track the locations of cellphones in real time, The Post reports.

“We track ’em, you whack ’em.”

The team, called the Geolocation Cell or “Geo Cell,” was reportedly created to play a support role for US military operations, allowing pilots to use a target’s cellphone as a homing beacon for drone strikes. Embedding with CIA agents and the elite operators of the secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the NSA group perfected a technique in 2004 which JSOC nicknamed “The Find,” reportedly adding thousands of people to the target list by allowing the agency to locate cellphones even when they were switched off. The unit’s motto became “We track ’em, you whack ’em.”

Following the leak of a secret court order which revealed that Verizon hands over all of its customers’ phone records and metadata, a Florida man had attempted to obtain his own location records from the NSA in order to prove his innocence in a criminal case. A carefully-worded response from the agency said that the program does not collect location data, claiming that “the program described in the classified [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court] order cited by the defense did not acquire such data.” But experts were quick to note that the statement also didn’t deny the agency had such capabilities under a separate program.