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In response to an ACLU lawsuit, the agency on Christmas Eve releases heavily redacted reports detailing privacy violations between 2001 and 2013.

Grassroots groups fly an airship over an NSA data center in June to protest its mass surveillance program. Greenpeace

The National Security Administration gave its critics a Christmas gift this year: a treasure trove of reports on the agency's spying wrongdoings.

Though hardly a gift of the heart -- the NSA released the heavily redacted reports Christmas Eve in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the ACLU -- the reports do detail privacy violations that took place amid an overly broad surveillance net cast after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The quarterly and annual reports, filed with the president's Intelligence Oversight Board, cover NSA activities from 2001 to 2013. They cite examples of information on Americans being emailed to unauthorized recipients, stored in unsecured computers and retained after it was supposed to be destroyed, according to Bloomberg, which first noticed the reports as others awaited Santa's arrival.

The NSA maintains that the majority of the compliance incidents "involve unintentional technical or human error" and that in the "very few cases" involving intentional misuse, a thorough investigation was completed and reported, and appropriate disciplinary action was taken.

"By emphasizing accountability across all levels of the enterprise, and transparently reporting errors and violations to outside oversight authorities, NSA protects privacy and civil liberties while safeguarding the nation and our allies," the agency said in a statement.

In one example of intentional misuse, highlighted by Bloomberg, an analyst reported in 2012 that "during the past two or three years, she had searched her spouse's personal telephone directory without his knowledge to obtain names and telephone numbers for targeting." In a 2009 incident, a "US Army sergeant used an NSA system 'to target his wife,' also a soldier," according to The Wall Street Journal. That led to a reduction in his rank to specialist.

Much of the NSA's mission stems from a 1981 executive order that legalized the surveillance of foreigners living outside of the US. The agency's actions have come under increased scrutiny following the leak of documents in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Some of those pointed to alleged surveillance violations similar in nature to ones the NSA detailed in its Wednesday release.

Patrick Toomey, a staff attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project, said the new documents "shed more light on how these spying activities impact Americans, and how the NSA has misused the information it collects. They show an urgent need for greater oversight by all three branches of government."

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Ho, ho, ho! NSA reports on its spying naughtiness

Published December 26, 2014

The National Security Agency has released heavily redacted accounts of its employees violations against Americans privacy after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the agency was required to file the reports with the Intelligence Oversight Board, the Wall Street Journal reports. However, the reports were released publicly Wednesday, covering activities from 2001-2013.

By emphasizing accountability across all levels of the enterprise, and transparently reporting errors and violations to outside oversight authorities, NSA protects privacy and civil liberties while safeguarding the nation and our allies, the agency said in a statement.

The reports show violations including communications from people in the U.S. being inadvertently targeted or collected by the agency. Some of the violations resemble the disclosures of NSA programs by Edward Snowden.

The report cites incidents of poorly constructed data queries that targeted Americans, improper handling of data and information used improperly.

Some incidents showed how a U.S. Army sergeant used an NSA system to target his wife, which led to a reduction in rank and further punishment.

The NSA says the reports involve human error and intentional misuse of the intelligence system.

The agency reaffirmed that appropriate disciplinary or administrative action was taken.

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The National Security Agency released documents on Christmas Eve revealing surveillance activities that may have violated the law for U.S. policy over more than a decade, reports David Lerman at Bloomberg.

Compelled by an ACLU FIOA request, the agency published 12 years of quarterly reports that were created for the Presidents Intelligence Oversight Board between 2001 and mid-2013.

The reports are heavily redacted but include details of intentional and unintentional misuse of the NSAs signals intelligence gathering systems.

The reports detail unauthorized signals intelligence gathering that included data about U.S. citizens, unauthorized personnel using the intelligence gathering systems and abuses of the NSAs spying tools for personal use. NSA signals intelligence includes phone call metadata gathered through the NSAs links to telecommunications companies, as well as much more granular communications scooped up by the agencys electronic spy network. There are also several references to employees failing to complete required refresher training on signals intelligence systems.

In many instances, NSA employees ran poorly constructed or unauthorized queries in the NSA systems, and ended up gathering data on U.S. citizens or unintended targets. In most of these cases the data was then destroyed.

In one case, detailed in the third quarter of 2007, an NSA instructor ran an unauthorized search during a training session:

Lerman also reports on instances of NSA systems misuse that were already publicly known:

Those cases included a member of a U.S. military intelligence unit who violated policy by obtaining the communications of his wife, who was stationed in another country. After a military proceeding, the violator was punished by a reduction in rank, 45 days of extra duty and forfeiture of half of his pay for two months, according to the letter.

In a 2003 case, a civilian employee ordered intelligence collection of the telephone number of his foreign-national girlfriend without an authorized purpose for approximately one month to determine whether she was being faithful to him, according to the letter. The employee retired before an investigation could be completed.

In August, 2013, Judy Woodroff spoke with former NSA analyst Russell Tice who said the agency collects every domestic communication, word for word.

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NSA releases 12 years of damaging oversight reports on Christmas Eve