Modern McCarthyism

The National Security Agency gathered records of porn-viewing habits and online sexual activity as part of a proposed plan to damage the reputation of a half-dozen Muslim men the agency suspected were radicalizing others through incendiary speeches, according to a report published Wednesday.

According to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and reported by the Huffington Post, the program was designed to demonstrate how the "personal vulnerabilities" of the six "exemplars" could be dredged up through electronic surveillance and used to undermine a target's credibility. Among the vulnerabilities identified in the October 3, 2012 document are "viewing sexually explicit material online" and "using sexually explicit persuasive language when communicating with inexperienced young girls."

The NSA possesses embarrassing sexually explicit information on at least two of the targets. Some of the data was gathered through FBI surveillance programs executed under the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act. It was gathered through SIGINT—short for signals intelligence, the interception of communications—methods. "Information herein is based largely on Sunni extremist communications," the document stated, adding "the SIGINT information is from primary sources with direct access and is generally considered reliable." There is no evidence that the NSA carried out the proposal to discredit any of the individuals, whose names were not included in the Huffington Post article.

Monday's report—carrying the bylines of Glenn Greenwald, Ryan Gallagher, and Ryan Grim—cited the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as saying the revelations further confirm that NSA surveillance is broader and more expansive than previously known. "Wherever you are, the NSA's databases store information about your political views, your medical history, your intimate relationships and your activities online," the ACLU's Jameel Jaffer was quoted as saying.

The report also questions just how big a threat the targets posed. None are accused in the document of being involved in terror plots. The offending argument made by one of the targets was described as "non-Muslims are a threat to Islam," while the argument of a separate "respected academic" was that "offensive jihad is justified."

Still, the documents reported Monday contrast sharply with previously aired documents also leaked by Snowden. Whereas earlier-reported NSA documents discussed programs that monitored the communications of millions of people not suspected of posing a threat to US interests, Monday's revelations concerned information collected on just six men, all of whom were identified in the documents as targets. Only one of the targets was considered a "US person," a classification that entitles people to greater legal protections against surveillance. All targets reside outside the US.

"If people are engaged in trying to recruit folks to kill Americans and we can discredit them, we ought to," former NSA general counsel Stewart Baker told the Huffington Post. "On the whole, it's fairer and maybe more humane" than bombing a target, he added. Any system can be abused by extending it beyond what is legally permitted, Baker said, concluding, "On that ground you could question almost any tactic we use in a war, and at some point you have to say we're counting on our officials to know the difference."