MYSTIC

According to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the MYSTIC program started in 2009. In 2011, it had the capability to record the content of phone calls in an entire country for 30 days. Documents from 2013 indicated the program may have been extended to other countries. MYSTIC operated under the legal authority of Executive Order 12333. Afghanistan In March 2014, former NSA Deputy Director John C. Inglis had already said that the other country was Iraq, but on May 19, an analysis published on the website Cryptome identified the country as Afghanistan. Several days later, on May 23, WikiLeaks also reported that Afghanistan was the country of which the NSA collected nearly all phone calls. On September 9, 2015, US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that the disclosure of what reporters believed to be the MYSTIC and/or SOMALGET program, led the Afghan government to immediately close down an important intelligence program, that "was the single most important source of force protection and warning for our people in Afghanistan", according to Clapper. == Scope ==

Under a sub-program of MYSTIC codenamed SOMALGET, the NSA recorded and archived the content of "virtually every" phone call for thirty days. After thirty days, the recorded calls are overwritten by newer phone calls, although concern was raised that the NSA may start storing collected phone calls indefinitely. Although NSA analysts could listen to less than 1% of the phone calls collected under MYSTIC, millions of voice clips were forwarded for processing and storage every month. == Impact==

The NSA documents said that MYSTIC collection in the Bahamas resulted in the apprehension of narcotics traffickers. The US government has also not yet shared information with the Bahamas, despite indicating that it would. == See also ==