--- title: Snowden Leak: National Security Agency Allowed to Spy on 193 Countries description: The National Security Agency exempted four countries from its list of places where it could rightfully intercept information, leaving the world's other 193 countries open to surveillance, according to a new set of top secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden. canonical: https://time.com/2945037/nsa-surveillance-193-countries/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-01T13:36:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:55:03.353Z article:section: Politics og:title: Snowden Leak: National Security Agency Allowed to Spy on 193 Countries og:description: The National Security Agency exempted four countries from its list of places where it could rightfully intercept information, leaving the world's other 193 countries open to surveillance, according to a new set of top secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden. og:url: https://time.com/2945037/nsa-surveillance-193-countries/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01d7b9eb3022d0f3/698684e2810bbbd065c9069c/nsa-building-headquarters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters building in Fort Meade, Md. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Snowden Leak: National Security Agency Allowed to Spy on 193 Countries twitter:description: The National Security Agency exempted four countries from its list of places where it could rightfully intercept information, leaving the world's other 193 countries open to surveillance, according to a new set of top secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01d7b9eb3022d0f3/698684e2810bbbd065c9069c/nsa-building-headquarters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Report: NSA Authorized to Spy on 193 Countries > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jul 1, 2014 1:36 PM UTC  The National Security Agency headquarters building in Fort Meade, Md. The National Security Agency headquarters building in Fort Meade, Md. Reuters  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jul 1, 2014 1:36 PM UTC The National Security Agency exempted four countries from its list of places where it could rightfully intercept information, leaving the world’s 193 other countries open to surveillance, according to a new set of top secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden. Four countries that had signed a no-spying agreement with the U.S. — Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — were declared off-limits by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the _Washington Post_ [reports](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/court-gave-nsa-broad-leeway-in-surveillance-documents-show/2014/06/30/32b872ec-fae4-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1%5Fstory.html), but the court approved a [list](http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1211015/faa-fg-cert-2010-a-exhibit-f-foreign-power-list.pdf) of 193 countries where the NSA could legally conduct surveillance. The list also authorized spying on 20 organizations “not substantially composed of United States persons,” including the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Union. Other documents showed the court approved expansive rules for the collection of emails and phone conversations of foreign targets. The NSA was granted authorization to monitor not only the targeted person’s communications, but also individuals who come into contact with the target, including American citizens. Nearly 90,000 foreign individuals and organizations were designated as foreign targets in 2013, according to a report [released](http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/transparency/odni%5Ftransparencyreport%5Fcy2013) Friday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. \[[_Washington Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/court-gave-nsa-broad-leeway-in-surveillance-documents-show/2014/06/30/32b872ec-fae4-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1%5Fstory.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2945037/nsa-surveillance-193-countries/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2945037/nsa-surveillance-193-countries/"},"headline":"Report: NSA Authorized to Spy on 193 Countries","datePublished":"2014-07-01T13:36:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:55:03.353Z","description":"Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court allowed information to be intercepted in all but 4 of the world's countries, according to a new report","url":"https://time.com/2945037/nsa-surveillance-193-countries/","keywords":["National Security"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01d7b9eb3022d0f3/698684e2810bbbd065c9069c/nsa-building-headquarters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01d7b9eb3022d0f3/698684e2810bbbd065c9069c/nsa-building-headquarters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters building in Fort Meade, Md.","caption":"The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters building in Fort Meade, Md.","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/national-security/","name":"National Security"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2945037/nsa-surveillance-193-countries/","name":"Report: NSA Authorized to Spy on 193 Countries"}}]}] ```