Report: NSA shares raw data about US citizens with Israel

The National Security Agency shares raw surveillance data with Israel without first removing information about US citizens, according to a document leaked to the Guardian by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

The arrangement is described in a memorandum between the two countries that allows the NSA to pass signals intelligence -- phone calls, faxes and other data scooped up in eavesdropping -- to Israeli intelligence services, reported the British daily, which posted the document online.

According to the memorandum, the intelligence data being shared would not be filtered in advance by the NSA to filter out US communications or details about American citizens caught in the dragnet.

"NSA routinely sends ISNU [the Israeli Sigint National Unit] minimized and unminimized raw collection", the memorandum states.

Asked about the report, the NSA did not deny the existence of the document but said the spy agency always protects privacy rights when it enters into intelligence sharing arrangements.

"We are not going to comment on any specific information sharing arrangements, or the authority under which any such information is collected," the agency said in a statement.

But the NSA does not use these intelligence sharing agreements "to circumvent US legal restrictions" or breach privacy protections, it said.

"Any US person information that is acquired as a result of NSA's surveillance activities is handled under procedures that are designed to protect privacy rights," it said.