NSA operates in Mexico, Philippines, Kenya, Bahamas; How are they stealing your information?

'The Intercept' is the new publication created by the journalists who revealed the secrets of the National Security Agency (NSA), including Glenn Greenwald. The online publication revealed that the NSA collects metadata from telecommunications systems in five countries, including Mexico, through a program called MYSTIC. MYSTIC collects information about the time, origin and destination of calls, and is funded, in the case of Mexico, by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The publication reveals that MYSTIC "is being used to secretly monitor the telecommunications systems of the Bahamas and several other countries, including Mexico, the Philippines, and Kenya. But while MYSTIC scrapes mobile networks for so-called “metadata” – information that reveals the time, source, and destination of calls – SOMALGET is a cutting-edge tool that enables the NSA to vacuum up and store the actual content of every conversation in an entire country."

According to The Intercept, MYSTIC has been used to gather personal data and information from more than 250 million people. More shocking still, the publication reveals that the program is seeking funding to extend its surveillance even further. As the investigation points out, the revelations raise serious concerns over the nature of American surveillance: for while the CIA and NSA might have justified MYSTIC as a means of monitoring drug traffickers, it is "a far cry from derailing terror plots or intercepting weapons of mass destruction."