Internal National Security Agency documents on the Iraq war have revealed that former NSA director Michael Hayden called for cooperation within the agency to support surveillance efforts as part of an “intelligence-driven” initiative against terrorism, Motherboard reported Tuesday.Jason Koebler writes a 2008 Freedom of Information Act request led to the publication of approximately 70 documents called WARgrams that Hayden sent to select NSA employees in 2003 and 2004 to provide updates on the war against al-Qaida.
Hayden detailed a “Iraq Battle Bridge” plan to provide access to NSA’s surveillance operations center for personnel involved in the war, Koebler reports.
“The lessons we learned from the Iraq Battle Bridge will help shape and inform our response to the next crisis,” the former NSA director wrote, according to the report.
The report said the WARgrams also indicate a shift in NSA’s focus from battlefield support to an expansion of the agency’s surveillance infrastructure in efforts to prevent future operations by al-Qaida.
