National Security Agency

Gemalto has said it was investigating a report U.S. and British spies had hacked its systems to steal the privacy-protecting encryption keys in the chips it makes for mobile phones.

The Montenegrin parliament on Tuesday adopted a controversial new law on the National Security Agency, NSA, by which intelligence officers can access all databases in Montenegro only by showing official identification cards.

Three of the leading rights groups in Montenegro, MANS, Action for Human Rights and the Center for Civic Education, on Monday urged parliamentarians to amend the new law on the National Security Agency - concerned about proposals to allow warrantless surveillance.

Britain's electronic spy agency GCHQ tapped emails of journalists at some of the world's biggest media organisations, The Guardian reported on Jan. 19.
      
The report said GCHQ gathered emails from journalists at the BBC, The Guardian, Le Monde, NBC, The New York Times, Reuters, The Sun and The Washington Post.
      

British intelligence agency "spied on journalists"

LONDON -- GCHQ "saved emails" from journalists at BBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other major news organizations, the Guardian reported, according to AP.

The newspaper said on Monday its information was based on an analysis of documents provided by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

The Montenegrin parliament is shortly to discuss a government proposal to retire all existing intelligence officers aged 50 and older by March 1.

Under an amendment to the law on the National Security Agency, employees with 30 years of work experience, of which at least 15 have been spent working for the Agency, will be retired "under favourable conditions".

Germany's top court said Dec. 12 it rejected a bid by leftist opposition parties to call former NSA contractor Edward Snowden as a witness in a parliamentary probe of US intelligence activities.
      

The Russian embassy sent a diplomatic note to Montenegro's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration on Thursday, demanding an explanation after the billboards appeared in Podgorica last week. 

China and "probably one or two" other countries have the ability to invade and possibly shut down computer systems of U.S. power utilities, aviation networks and financial companies, Admiral Mike Rogers, the director of the U.S. National Security Agency, said on Thursday.
  

U.S. Senate Republicans have blocked a sweeping overhaul of a National Security Agency program that would have ended the government’s controversial bulk collection of data about Americans.

The vote marks a blow for President Barack Obama, who had supported the reforms, and sets up a showdown in 2015 when crucial surveillance provisions are set to expire.