NSA Becomes Household Name After Snowden Leaks

 By 
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
 on 
NSA Becomes Household Name After Snowden Leaks

How popular a topic has the National Security Agency become after Edward Snowden started leaking top-secret documents about its far-reaching surveillance programs? Very.

In fact, the NSA -- which once was half-jokingly referred to as "No Such Agency" due to the secrecy surrounding it -- has been in the news more in the last three months than ever before, according to data gathered by Dow Jones.

The publishing and financial-information firm tracked coverage of the NSA from 2000 to today, mining data from its DJX Factiva news archive -- which includes 34,000 sources in 28 languages -- and compared it to coverage of the FBI and CIA. Dow Jones found that post-Snowden, the NSA has seen an unprecedented spike in coverage.

At its peak, the NSA was mentioned in more than 15,000 articles per month this summer, eclipsing both the FBI and the CIA. The previous high was reached in 2006 after The New York Times revealed that former U.S. president George W. Bush had authorized the NSA to perform warrantless surveillance of Americans.

Take a full look at the data in Dow Jones' infographic, below.

Mashable Image
Credit:

The biggest stories of the day delivered to your inbox.
These newsletters may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. By clicking Subscribe, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Thanks for signing up. See you at your inbox!