| 2014-01-17 | Obama Announces Limited NSA Reforms While Preserving Core Surveillance Programs
4 src Barack Obama · National Security Agency · FISA Court · Edward Snowden |
| confirmed |
| 2014-01-16 | NSA DISHFIRE Program Collects Nearly 200 Million Text Messages Daily Worldwide
3 src National Security Agency · Edward Snowden |
| confirmed |
| 2014-01-01 | Erik Prince Founds Frontier Services Group with Chinese State Investment from CITIC, Controlled by Chang Zhenming
4 src Erik Prince · CITIC Group · Frontier Services Group |
| confirmed |
| 2014-01-01 | Francisco Partners Acquires 70% Stake in NSO Group for $130 Million
3 src NSO Group · Shalev Hulio · Omri Lavie |
| confirmed |
| 2013-12-16 | Federal Judge Rules NSA Bulk Phone Data Collection Likely Unconstitutional
3 src National Security Agency |
| confirmed |
| 2013-12-05 | Tech Companies Launch Transparency Reports After NSA Revelations
4 src Google · Microsoft · Yahoo · Facebook · +2 |
| confirmed |
| 2013-08-08 | Lavabit Encrypted Email Service Shuts Down Rather Than Comply with NSA Demands
4 src Federal Bureau of Investigation · National Security Agency · Edward Snowden |
| confirmed |
| 2013-08-01 | Chicago Police Launch Strategic Subject List "Heat List" Predictive Policing Program
3 src Chicago Police Department |
| confirmed |
| 2013-06-14 | U.S. Charges Edward Snowden with Espionage and Theft of Government Property
3 src Edward Snowden · Department of Justice · Eric Holder |
| confirmed |
| 2013-06-06 | Washington Post and Guardian Reveal NSA PRISM Program for Direct Server Access
3 src Edward Snowden · Glenn Greenwald · National Security Agency · Microsoft · +4 |
| confirmed |
| 2013-06-05 | Snowden Reveals NSA Mass Surveillance and PRISM Program
3 src Edward Snowden · Glenn Greenwald · Julian Assange |
| confirmed |
| 2013-03-01 | Amazon AWS Wins $600 Million CIA Cloud Contract
3 src Amazon Web Services · Central Intelligence Agency · IBM |
| confirmed |
| 2013-01-01 | Kansas Implements Kris Kobach's Proof-of-Citizenship Voting Law and Expands Interstate Crosscheck
4 src |
| confirmed |
| 2012-08-09 | Google Fined Record $22.5M for Deliberately Overriding Safari Privacy Settings
4 src Google · Federal Trade Commission · Apple |
| confirmed |
| 2012-06-01 | New Orleans Police Launch Secret Palantir Predictive Policing Program
3 src Palantir Technologies · Peter Thiel |
| confirmed |
| 2012-02-27 | WikiLeaks Publishes 5 Million Stratfor Emails Revealing Private Intelligence Firm's Surveillance of Activists and Corporate Espionage
4 src WikiLeaks · Julian Assange · Anonymous · Lockheed Martin · +4 |
| confirmed |
| 2012-01-01 | Amazon Implements Automated Worker Surveillance and Tracking System
3 src Jeff Bezos · Amazon |
| confirmed |
| 2012-01-01 | Nonprofit Hospital CEO Compensation Explodes: 42.5% Increase While Community Benefit Stagnates
3 src |
| confirmed |
| 2011-09-01 | FBI Surveils Occupy Wall Street as "Terrorist Threat" Before First Protest
3 src Federal Bureau of Investigation · U.S. Department of Homeland Security |
| confirmed |
| 2011-09-01 | LAPD Launches Operation LASER Predictive Policing Program with Palantir
3 src LAPD · Palantir Technologies · Peter Thiel |
| confirmed |
| 2011-02-06 | Anonymous hacks HBGary Federal, exposing Team Themis: proposed disinformation and harassment campaign against WikiLeaks supporters and journalist Glenn Greenwald on behalf of Bank of America
7 src Greg Hoglund · Glenn Greenwald · Anonymous · Palantir Technologies · +1 |
| confirmed |
| 2011-01-01 | Geofeedia Founded to Enable Location-Based Social Media Surveillance
3 src In-Q-Tel |
| confirmed |
| 2010-09-24 | FBI Raids Anti-War Activists' Homes in Coordinated Nationwide Operation
3 src Federal Bureau of Investigation · Department of Justice |
| confirmed |
| 2010-07-19 | Washington Post Publishes "Top Secret America," Revealing 1,931 Private Companies in Intelligence Work and Massive Revolving Door
4 src Washington Post · Office of the Director of National Intelligence |
| confirmed |
| 2010-01-01 | NSO Group Founded in Israel to Develop Pegasus Spyware
3 src Shalev Hulio · Omri Lavie · NSO Group |
| confirmed |
| 2009-11-17 | Climategate Email Hack Manufactures Controversy Before Copenhagen Summit
4 src Michael Mann |
| confirmed |
| 2009-07-01 | In-Q-Tel and Google Ventures Co-Invest in Social Media Surveillance Firm Recorded Future
3 src In-Q-Tel |
| confirmed |
| 2009-01-01 | Dataminr Founded to Provide Real-Time Social Media Surveillance, Later Backed by CIA Venture Capital
3 src In-Q-Tel · Twitter |
| confirmed |
| 2008-05-12 | ICE Conducts Largest Immigration Raid in U.S. History at Postville, Iowa Agriprocessors Plant, Arresting 389 Workers While Management Faces No Criminal Charges Despite Systematic Labor Law Violations and Exploitation
4 src Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · U.S. Department of Homeland Security |
| confirmed |
| 2008-03-20 | Sprint Nextel GPS Location Data Sharing with Law Enforcement
4 src National Security Agency · Bush Administration |
| confirmed |
| 2008-01-01 | Palantir Gotham Platform Released for Intelligence and Defense Applications
3 src Palantir Technologies · Central Intelligence Agency · Intelligence Community |
| confirmed |
| 2007-12-01 | DHS awards HBGary, Inc. $975,000 SBIR Phase II contract — maturation funding that ran concurrently with Team Themis planning
2 src Greg Hoglund · DHS Science and Technology Directorate | | confirmed |
| 2007-08-01 | Verizon's Deep Involvement in NSA Surveillance Programs
3 src Bush Administration · National Security Agency · Verizon Communications |
| confirmed |
| 2007-01-01 | Cellebrite Launches Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) for Law Enforcement
3 src Cellebrite |
| confirmed |
| 2007-01-01 | Israel Passes Defense Export Control Law, Creating Framework That Enables Pegasus as Diplomatic Weapon
3 src Benjamin Netanyahu · NSO Group |
| confirmed |
| 2006-09-01 | DHS awards HBGary, Inc. $100,000 SBIR Phase I contract for botnet detection — the upstream R&D seed of the Team Themis pipeline
2 src Greg Hoglund · DHS Science and Technology Directorate | | confirmed |
| 2005-01-01 | CIA's In-Q-Tel Makes Strategic Investment in Palantir Technologies
2 src In-Q-Tel · Central Intelligence Agency · Palantir Technologies |
| confirmed |
| 2004-10-27 | Google Acquires CIA-Backed Keyhole, Foundation for Google Earth
3 src Google · In-Q-Tel · Central Intelligence Agency |
| confirmed |
| 2004-02-01 | Accenture Awarded Competitive DHS US-VISIT Contract
4 src Accenture · U.S. Department of Homeland Security |
| confirmed |
| 2003-09-24 | Congress Officially Defunds Total Information Awareness Program
3 src U.S. Congress · United States Senate · U.S. House of Representatives · George W. Bush · +4 |
| confirmed |
| 2003-08-29 | John Poindexter Resigns from DARPA After TIA Scandal, Surveillance Architect Exits to Private Sector
3 src John Poindexter · DARPA · Information Awareness Office · SAIC |
| confirmed |
| 2003-06-15 | NSA Awards AT&T $500 Million Multi-Year Surveillance Infrastructure Contract
3 src George W. Bush · Michael Hayden |
| confirmed |
| 2003-05-01 | Palantir Technologies Founded by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, and PayPal Engineers
3 src Peter Thiel · Alex Karp · Joe Lonsdale · John Poindexter · +2 |
| confirmed |
| 2003-02-01 | In-Q-Tel Invests in Keyhole's EarthViewer During Iraq War Buildup
3 src In-Q-Tel · National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency · CNN |
| confirmed |
| 2002-11-09 | New York Times Exposes Total Information Awareness Surveillance Program, Sparking Public Outcry
3 src New York Times · DARPA · John Poindexter · Information Awareness Office |
| confirmed |
| 2002-08-02 | Poindexter Announces DARPA Total Information Awareness Program
3 src John Poindexter · DARPA · Information Awareness Office |
| confirmed |
| 2001-09-21 | AT&T Establishes Mass Internet Surveillance Infrastructure for NSA
3 src National Security Agency · Bush Administration |
| confirmed |
| 2001-09-04 | Oracle Hires CIA Executive Director David Carney, Establishes Information Assurance Center
3 src Oracle · Central Intelligence Agency · Larry Ellison |
| confirmed |
| 2000-04-05 | Duncan Campbell Delivers Interception Capabilities 2000 Report to European Parliament, Forces ECHELON Inquiry
3 src National Security Agency · Government Communications Headquarters |
| confirmed |
| 2000-01-01 | Stock Options Become Primary Executive Compensation, Aligning CEO Interests with Short-Term Stock Price Manipulation
3 src Wall Street |
| confirmed |
| 1999-11-20 | Wassenaar Arrangement Cryptography Provisions Liberalized, US Export Controls Follow
3 src Department of Commerce · Electronic Frontier Foundation |
| confirmed |
| 1999-09-01 | CIA Establishes In-Q-Tel as Revolutionary Venture Capital Arm
3 src Central Intelligence Agency · George Tenet · In-Q-Tel |
| confirmed |
| 1999-04-27 | DARPA's Brian Sharkey Coins "Total Information Awareness" at DARPATech Conference
3 src John Poindexter |
| confirmed |
| 1999-04-05 | NSA Launches NSANet Classified Network Consolidation, Fort Meade Reaches "Crypto City" Scale
3 src Michael Hayden · National Security Agency |
| confirmed |
| 1999-01-01 | Cellebrite Founded in Israel to Develop Mobile Phone Data Transfer Technology
3 src Cellebrite |
| reported |
| 1998-10-30 | NSA's Menwith Hill Station UK Expansion Completed, Reaches 1,200+ Personnel and Peak ECHELON Capacity
4 src National Security Agency · Government Communications Headquarters |
| confirmed |
| 1998-09-01 | Narus Founded, Israeli-Origin Deep-Packet-Inspection Firm Becomes NSA Infrastructure Supplier
3 src National Security Agency · AT&T |
| confirmed |
| 1998-01-01 | CIA Begins Developing In-Q-Tel Concept -- Intelligence Community Plans Entry Into Venture Capital
4 src George Tenet · Central Intelligence Agency · Lockheed Martin |
| confirmed |
| 1997-10-01 | FBI Begins Development of Carnivore/DCS1000 Internet Surveillance System
4 src Louis Freeh · Federal Bureau of Investigation · Electronic Frontier Foundation |
| confirmed |
| 1997-06-01 | NSA Creates Signals Intelligence Automation Research Center, Binney and Wiebe Lead Bulk-Collection Technical Design
4 src National Security Agency · Michael Hayden |
| confirmed |
| 1996-07-01 | Nicky Hager Publishes Secret Power, First Detailed Public Description of ECHELON System
3 src National Security Agency |
| confirmed |
| 1996-04-24 | Clinton Signs AEDPA, Expands Federal Surveillance and Creates FTO Terrorism Framework
3 src Bill Clinton · Orrin Hatch · Bob Dole · Joe Biden |
| confirmed |
| 1996-01-11 | DOJ Drops Zimmermann PGP Investigation, Marks Crypto Wars Policy Inflection
2 src Department of Justice · Electronic Frontier Foundation |
| confirmed |
| 1996-01-01 | George Friedman Founds Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor), the "Shadow CIA" of Private Geopolitical Intelligence
4 src |
| confirmed |
| 1994-10-25 | Clinton Signs CALEA Requiring Telecom Networks to Be Wiretap-Ready By Design
4 src Bill Clinton · Louis Freeh · Federal Bureau of Investigation · Patrick Leahy |
| confirmed |
| 1994-09-13 | Intelligence Community Deploys Intelink, Classified Web-Based Network Enabling Bulk Information Sharing
3 src Central Intelligence Agency · Defense Intelligence Agency · National Security Agency |
| confirmed |
| 1994-09-13 | Violent Crime Control Act Expands Federal Wiretap Predicates and Roving Wiretap Authority
2 src Bill Clinton · Joe Biden · Department of Justice |
| confirmed |
| 1994-06-02 | Matt Blaze Publishes Clipper Chip Security Flaw, Demonstrates Key-Escrow Bypassability
3 src National Security Agency · National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| confirmed |
| 1994-06-01 | FISA Court Annual Report Reveals 99%+ Approval Rate Over 15 Years, Rubber-Stamp Critique Crystallizes
3 src Department of Justice |
| confirmed |
| 1994-01-12 | Whitewater Investigation Launches Under Special Counsel Robert Fiske
3 src Bill Clinton · Hillary Clinton · Janet Reno |
| confirmed |
| 1993-04-16 | Clinton White House Announces Clipper Chip, NSA-Designed Backdoor Encryption with Government Key Escrow
3 src Bill Clinton · Al Gore · National Security Agency · National Institute of Standards and Technology · +1 |
| confirmed |
| 1993-02-26 | Port Authority Hires Kroll Associates After 1993 World Trade Center Bombing -- Private Intelligence Enters Counterterrorism
4 src Jules Kroll · Kroll Associates |
| confirmed |
| 1993-02-01 | US Customs Opens Criminal Investigation of Phil Zimmermann Over PGP Encryption Export
3 src Department of Justice · Electronic Frontier Foundation |
| confirmed |
| 1992-03-01 | FBI Launches Digital Telephony Initiative Demanding Wiretap-Ready Design in New Networks
3 src Federal Bureau of Investigation · Louis Freeh · Electronic Frontier Foundation |
| confirmed |
| 1991-06-15 | FBI Cellular Surveillance Pilot Programs Establish Mass-Collection Template Before CALEA
3 src Federal Bureau of Investigation · National Security Agency |
| confirmed |
| 1990-04-25 | Treasury Creates FinCEN, Centralizing Financial Surveillance of American Banking
3 src Department of the Treasury · George H.W. Bush |
| confirmed |
| 1988-08-12 | Duncan Campbell's New Statesman Article First Publicly Names ECHELON Surveillance Network
3 src Government Communications Headquarters · National Security Agency |
| confirmed |
| 1986-10-21 | Congress Passes Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Codifies Third-Party Doctrine for Digital Communications
3 src Patrick Leahy · Ronald Reagan |
| confirmed |
| 1985-09-04 | Inslaw Files Bankruptcy Accusing DOJ of Stealing PROMIS Software for Intelligence Use
4 src Department of Justice · Edwin Meese |
| confirmed |
| 1985-01-01 | Maxwell Begins Distribution of Backdoored PROMIS Software to KGB and China
3 src Robert Maxwell |
| confirmed |
| 1985-01-01 | PROMIS Software Creates Global Intelligence Surveillance Network Through Maxwell Distribution
3 src Robert Maxwell · US Intelligence · State Department · House Judiciary Committee |
| confirmed |
| 1984-01-01 | Manhattan Institute Organizational Profile: Urban Policy Infrastructure and CIA-Connected Think Tank
4 src Rudy Giuliani · Bradley Foundation |
| confirmed |
| 1982-09-20 | Bamford's The Puzzle Palace Published, First Book-Length Public History of NSA After 30 Years of Denial
2 src National Security Agency · Department of Justice |
| confirmed |
| 1981-12-04 | Reagan Signs Executive Order 12333, Loosening Intelligence Restrictions and Enabling Private Contractor Involvement
4 src Ronald Reagan · Central Intelligence Agency · National Security Agency · Defense Intelligence Agency · +1 |
| confirmed |
| 1978-10-25 | Carter Signs Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Creating FISC, Nominal Constraint on Domestic Surveillance
3 src Jimmy Carter · Ted Kennedy · Church Committee · Department of Justice |
| confirmed |
| 1978-01-01 | Manhattan Institute Founded by CIA Director William Casey - Intelligence-Policy Crossover
3 src |
| confirmed |
| 1977-08-12 | Weinberger v. Equifax: Fifth Circuit Guts Anti-Pinkerton Act, Clearing Path for Private Intelligence Industry
5 src Government Accountability Office |
| confirmed |
| 1977-01-01 | Oracle Corporation Founded to Build CIA Database, Named After CIA Project
3 src Larry Ellison · Central Intelligence Agency · Oracle |
| confirmed |
| 1976-06-23 | Supreme Court Miller Decision Holds Bank Records Have No Fourth Amendment Protection, Creates Third-Party Doctrine
3 src Lewis Powell · William Rehnquist · Thurgood Marshall |
| confirmed |
| 1975-04-26 | Church Committee Exposes Systemic Intelligence Agency Abuses
3 src Frank Church · Central Intelligence Agency · National Security Agency · Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| confirmed |
| 1972-06-19 | Supreme Court Keith Decision Requires Warrants for Domestic Security Surveillance, Reserves Foreign Intelligence Question
3 src Lewis Powell · Department of Justice · John Mitchell |
| confirmed |
| 1971-03-08 | COINTELPRO Exposed - FBI's Secret War on Civil Rights and Dissent Revealed
3 src Federal Bureau of Investigation · J. Edgar Hoover · Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI |
| confirmed |
| 1970-07-14 | Nixon Approves Huston Plan Authorizing Illegal Surveillance, Rescinded After Hoover Objects
3 src Richard Nixon · J. Edgar Hoover · Richard Helms · Federal Bureau of Investigation · +3 |
| confirmed |
| 1967-08-15 | CIA Launches Operation CHAOS, Systematic Domestic Surveillance of Anti-War Movement
3 src Richard Helms · Lyndon B. Johnson · Central Intelligence Agency |
| confirmed |
| 1967-07-01 | NSA Launches Project MINARET Watchlist Program Targeting U.S. Citizens
3 src National Security Agency · Lyndon B. Johnson · Richard Nixon |
| confirmed |
| 1966-10-15 | Black Panther Party Formation in Oakland Triggers Immediate FBI COINTELPRO Surveillance and State Repression
4 src California State Legislature |
| confirmed |
| 1966-01-01 | Wackenhut Corporation Acquires HUAC Staffer's Files, Claims Dossiers on 4+ Million Americans
4 src Wackenhut Corporation · House Un-American Activities Committee |
| confirmed |
| 1959-05-29 | Congress Passes NSA Act of 1959 (P.L. 86-36) Exempting NSA From Disclosure of Its Own Functions
3 src Dwight D. Eisenhower · National Security Agency · Department of Defense |
| confirmed |
| 1952-11-04 | Truman Creates National Security Agency by Classified Directive, Existence Classified for 23 Years
3 src Harry S. Truman · National Security Agency · Armed Forces Security Agency |
| confirmed |
| 1951-12-06 | Truman Commissions Brownell Committee to Investigate AFSA Failure, Blueprint for NSA Created
3 src Harry S. Truman · Armed Forces Security Agency · National Security Council |
| confirmed |