--- description: According to National Security Agency documents, administrated expanded warrantless surveillance of Americans' Internet searches. title: New Snowden Documents Reveal Obama Administration Expanded NSA Spying image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # New Snowden Documents Reveal Obama Administration Expanded NSA Spying  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 4, 2015 4:47 PM CUT  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 4, 2015 4:47 PM CUT The Obama administration expanded warrantless surveillance of Americans’ Internet searches, according to new National Security Agency documents released by Edward Snowden. [According to ProPublica](https://www.propublica.org/article/new-snowden-documents-reveal-secret-memos-expanding-spying "undefined"), which obtained documents from Snowden, in 2012 the Justice Department authorized the NSA to search Internet cables on American soil without a warrant for evidence of computer hacking schemes originating abroad. The secret memos from 2012 say the NSA could watch Internet traffic flowing to suspicious addresses or containing malware, as well as monitor addresses and cyber signatures. [Read more at ProPublica](https://www.propublica.org/article/new-snowden-documents-reveal-secret-memos-expanding-spying "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3909293/edward-snowden-obama-nsa-spying/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3909293/edward-snowden-obama-nsa-spying/"},"headline":"New Snowden Documents Reveal Obama Administration Expanded NSA Spying","datePublished":"2015-06-04T16:47:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:55:27.207Z","description":"The Justice Department was looking for evidence of computer hacking schemes","url":"https://time.com/3909293/edward-snowden-obama-nsa-spying/","keywords":["White House","NSA","Barack Obama","Edward Snowden"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"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/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3909293/edward-snowden-obama-nsa-spying/","name":"New Snowden Documents Reveal Obama Administration Expanded NSA Spying"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Edward Snowden","description":"TIME's Michael Scherer explains why NSA leaker Edward Snowden is on the short list for the 2013 TIME Person of the Year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cxBatp7g/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-11T12:42:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cxBatp7g.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3909293/edward-snowden-obama-nsa-spying/","duration":"PT2M26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3909293/edward-snowden-obama-nsa-spying/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```