--- title: Edward Snowden: Documents Reveal Obama Administration Expanded Spying description: According to National Security Agency documents, administrated expanded warrantless surveillance of Americans' Internet searches. canonical: https://time.com/3909293/edward-snowden-obama-nsa-spying/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-04T16:47:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:01.378Z article:section: Politics og:title: New Snowden Documents Reveal Obama Administration Expanded NSA Spying og:description: The Justice Department was looking for evidence of computer hacking schemes og:url: https://time.com/3909293/edward-snowden-obama-nsa-spying/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Snowden Documents Reveal Obama Administration Expanded NSA Spying twitter:description: The Justice Department was looking for evidence of computer hacking schemes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # New Snowden Documents Reveal Obama Administration Expanded NSA Spying ## Video: Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Edward Snowden [Watch (HLS stream): Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Edward Snowden](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cxBatp7g.m3u8) (2:26)  _Published 2013-12-11. TIME's Michael Scherer explains why NSA leaker Edward Snowden is on the short list for the 2013 TIME Person of the Year._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jun 4, 2015 4:47 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jun 4, 2015 4:47 PM UTC 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), 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. 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