Turbulence (NSA)

United States National Security Agency information-technology project

National Security Agency surveillance

Map of global NSA data collection as of 2007[update], with countries subject to the most data collection shown in red

Programs

Pre-1978

* ECHELON
* MINARET
* SHAMROCK
* PROMIS

Since 1978

* Upstream collection
* BLARNEY
* FAIRVIEW
* Main Core
* ThinThread
* Genoa

Since 1990

* RAMPART-A

Since 1998

* Tailored Access Operations

Since 2001

* OAKSTAR
* STORMBREW
* Trailblazer
* Turbulence
* Genoa II
* Total Information Awareness
* President's Surveillance Program
* Terrorist Surveillance Program

Since 2007

* PRISM
* Dropmire
* Stateroom
* Bullrun
* MYSTIC

Databases, tools etc.

* PINWALE
* MARINA
* Main Core
* MAINWAY
* TRAFFICTHIEF
* DISHFIRE
* XKeyscore
* ICREACH
* BOUNDLESSINFORMANT

GCHQ collaboration

* MUSCULAR
* Tempora

Legislation

* Safe Streets Act
* Privacy Act of 1974
* FISA
* ECPA
* Patriot Act
* Homeland Security Act
* Protect America Act of 2007
* FISA Amendments Act of 2008

Institutions

* FISC
* Senate Intelligence Committee
* National Security Council

Lawsuits

* ACLU v. NSA
* Hepting v. AT&T
* Jewel v. NSA
* Clapper v. Amnesty
* Klayman v. Obama
* ACLU v. Clapper
* Wikimedia v. NSA
* US v. Moalin

Whistleblowers

* William Binney
* Thomas Drake
* Mark Klein
* Thomas Tamm
* Russ Tice
* Edward Snowden

Publication

* 2005 warrantless surveillance scandal
* Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)

Related

* Cablegate
* Surveillance of reporters
* Mail tracking
* UN diplomatic spying
* Insider Threat Program
* Mass surveillance in the United States
* Mass surveillance in the United Kingdom

Concepts

* SIGINT
* Metadata

Collaboration

United States

* CSS
* CYBERCOM
* DOJ
* FBI
* CIA
* DHS
* IAO

Five Eyes

* CSEC
* GCHQ
* ASD
* GCSB

Other

* DGSE
* BND

* v
* t
* e

Part of a series on

Global surveillance
Disclosures

* Origins
* Pre-2013
* 2013–present
* Reactions

Systems

* XKeyscore
* PRISM
* ECHELON
* Sentient
* Carnivore
* Dishfire
* Stone Ghost
* Tempora
* Frenchelon
* Fairview
* MYSTIC
* DCSN
* Boundless Informant
* Bullrun
* Pinwale
* Stingray
* SORM
* RAMPART-A
* Mastering the Internet
* Jindalee Operational Radar Network

Selected agencies

* FVEY
* ASD
* CSE
* GCSB
* GCHQ
* NSA
* BND
* BSSN
* CNI
* DIH
* DGSE
* KGB
* MSS
* JSCU
* Spetssvyaz
* Unit 8200

Places

* The Doughnut
* Fort Meade
* Menwith Hill
* Pine Gap
* Southern Cross Cable
* Utah Data Center
* Bad Aibling Station
* Dagger Complex
* GCHQ Bude

Laws

* Five Eyes
* UKUSA Agreement
* Lustre
* U.S.
* USA Freedom Act
* FISA amendments
* EU
* Data Retention Directive
* Data Protection Directive
* GDPR
* China
* National Intelligence Law
* Cybersecurity Law
* UK
* Investigatory Powers Act 2016

Proposed changes

* U.S.
* FISA Improvements Act
* Other proposals

Concepts

* Mass surveillance
* List of government mass surveillance projects
* Culture of fear
* Secure communication
* SIGINT
* Call detail record
* Surveillance issues in smart cities

Related topics

* Intelligence field
* Espionage
* Intelligence agency
* Cryptography
* Tor
* VPNs
* TLS
* Human rights
* Privacy
* Liberty
* Satellites
* Stop Watching Us
* Nothing to hide argument

* v
* t
* e

A reference to Turbulence and Turmoil in an XKeyscore slide.

Turbulence is a United States National Security Agency (NSA) information-technology project started c. 2005. It was developed in small, inexpensive "test" pieces rather than one grand plan like its failed predecessor, the Trailblazer Project. It also includes offensive cyberwarfare capabilities, like injecting malware into remote computers. The U.S. Congress criticized the project in 2007 for having similar bureaucratic problems as the Trailblazer Project.[1]

## Criticism

[edit]

According to Siobhan Gorman in a 2007 Baltimore Sun article, "The conclusion in Congress, two former government officials said, was that Turbulence was over budget, not delivering and poorly led, and that there was little or no strategy to pull it all together."[2]

## Link to Trailblazer

[edit]

Trailblazer, the predecessor of Turbulence, had been cancelled in 2006 after a congressional investigation and a Defense Department's Inspector General's report found it over budget, wasteful, and ineffective.[1][3]

One of the Trailblazer whistleblowers who helped with the inspector-general report, Thomas Andrews Drake, was later charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 for allegedly retaining five documents in his home. Two of those documents were about Turbulence; his defense pointed out that one of these documents was clearly marked "UNCLASSIFIED" and the other was declassified shortly after his indictment.[3] Thomas Drake pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of unauthorized use of a computer on June 10, 2011, and was sentenced to one year probation.[4]

## Programs

[edit]

Turbulence includes nine core programs, of which names are known:[2]

* TURMOIL
* Turmoil is involved in the process of decrypting communications.[5]
* TUTELAGE
* TRAFFICTHIEF
* According to an XKeyscore presentation, TRAFFICTHIEF is a database of "Meta-data from a subset of tasked strong-selectors" [6] According to the XKeyscore presentation, an example of a strong selector is an email address. In other words, it would be a database of the metadata associated with names, phone numbers, email addresses, etc., that the intelligence services are specifically targeting. [citation needed] Marc Ambinder gives what he calls an educated guess: "raw SIGINT viewer for data analysis."[7]

* A reference to TRAFFICTHIEF in an XKeyscore slide

* A Reference to TRAFFICTHIEF in a PRISM slide

* A reference to Turmoil in an NSA presentation

* Memo celebrating the launch of TURBULENCE, Mentions TURMOIL, TUTELAGE, XKEYSCORE, and TAO

* FAIRVIEW presentation: reference to TURMOIL

* Technical details of MUSCULAR, reference to TURMOIL

## See also

[edit]

* United States portal
* Politics portal

* ECHELON
* DCSNet
* Red Hook
* Stellar Wind
* Thinthread
* William Binney
* Mark Klein
* Edward Snowden
* Thomas Tamm
* Russ Tice

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Bamford, James (2008). The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America. New York City: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-52132-1. p. 325–340.
2. ^ a b Gorman, Siobhan (February 11, 2007). "Costly NSA Initiative Has a Shaky Takeoff – Vexing Snags for Cyberspace Tool 'Turbulence'". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
3. ^ a b Mayer, Jane (May 23, 2011). "The Secret Sharer – Is Thomas Drake an Enemy of the State?". The New Yorker. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
4. ^ "Transcript of Sentencing Proceeding, United States of America v. Thomas A. Drake" (PDF). United States District Court of Maryland. July 15, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
5. ^ James Ball; Julian Borger; Glenn Greenwald (September 5, 2013). "Revealed: how US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security". Retrieved September 6, 2013.
6. ^ Greenwald, Glenn (July 31, 2013). "XKeyscore: NSA tool collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'". Retrieved August 5, 2013.
7. ^ Ambinder, Marc (August 14, 2013). "An Educated Guess About How the NSA Is Structured". The Atlantic.com. Retrieved August 14, 2013.

## External links

[edit]

* Unraveling NSA's TURBULENCE Programs
* Democracy Now interview with whistleblower William Binney

* v
* t
* e

National Security Agency

Locations|

* Alaska Mission Operations Center
* Colorado Cryptologic Center
* Consolidated Intelligence Center
* CSSG
* European Cryptologic Center
* European Technical Center
* Fort Meade
* Friendship Annex
* Georgia Cryptologic Center
* Hawaii Cryptologic Center
* Interagency Training Center
* Kent Island
* Misawa Security Operations Center
* Multiprogram Research Facility
* Pine Gap
* RAF Menwith Hill
* Roaring Creek
* Room 641A
* Salt Creek
* Sugar Grove
* Texas Cryptologic Center
* Utah Data Center

Leaders|

* Ralph Canine
* John A. Samford
* Laurence Hugh Frost
* Gordon Blake
* Marshall Carter
* Noel Gayler
* Samuel C. Phillips
* Lew Allen
* Bobby Ray Inman
* Lincoln D. Faurer
* William Eldridge Odom
* Bill Studeman
* John Michael McConnell
* Kenneth Minihan
* Michael Hayden
* Keith B. Alexander
* Michael S. Rogers
* Paul Nakasone

Divisions|

* CSS
* Special Collection Service
* SSO
* TAO
* NSOC

Technology|

* ANT catalog
* FROSTBURG
* HARVEST
* Secure Terminal Equipment (STE)
* STU-I
* STU-II
* STU-III
* WARRIOR PRIDE

Controversy|

* 2010s global surveillance disclosures
* Church Committee
* Edward Snowden
* LOVEINT
* James Bamford
* NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–2007)
* Pike Committee
* Russ Tice
* Thomas Andrews Drake
* Thomas Tamm
* Matthew Aid

Programs|

* Boundless Informant
* Dropmire
* ECHELON
* Fairview
* Insider Threat Program
* MUSCULAR
* MYSTIC
* PRISM
* Real Time Regional Gateway
* Stellar Wind
* TRAILBLAZER
* Turbulence
* Upstream
* XKeyscore

Databases|

* DISHFIRE
* Main Core
* MAINWAY
* MARINA
* PINWALE

Other|

* Dundee Society
* Institute for Defense Analyses
* National Cryptologic Museum
* National Cryptologic School
* National Vigilance Park
* NSA Hall of Honor
* VENONA
* Vulnerabilities Equities Process
* Zendian Problem

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