Ragtime (code name)

Ragtime or RAGTIME is the code name of four secret surveillance programs conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States. These programs date back to at least 2002[1] and were revealed in March 2013 in the book Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry, by Marc Ambinder and D.B. Grady.

National Security Agency surveillance
Map of global NSA data collection as of 2007, with countries subject to the most data collection shown in red
Programs Pre-1978 ECHELON MINARET SHAMROCK PROMIS Since 1978 Upstream collection BLARNEY FAIRVIEW Main Core ThinThread Genoa Since 1990 RAMPART-A Since 1998 Tailored Access Operations Since 2001 OAKSTAR STORMBREW Trailblazer Turbulence Genoa II Total Information Awareness President's Surveillance Program Terrorist Surveillance Program Since 2007 PRISM Dropmire Stateroom Bullrun MYSTIC Databases, tools etc. PINWALE MARINA Main Core MAINWAY TRAFFICTHIEF DISHFIRE XKeyscore ICREACH BOUNDLESSINFORMANT GCHQ collaboration MUSCULAR Tempora
Legislation Safe Streets Act Privacy Act of 1974 FISA ECPA Patriot Act Homeland Security Act Protect America Act of 2007 FISA Amendments Act of 2008
Institutions FISC Senate Intelligence Committee National Security Council
Lawsuits ACLU v. NSA Hepting v. AT&T Jewel v. NSA Clapper v. Amnesty Klayman v. Obama ACLU v. Clapper Wikimedia v. NSA US v. Moalin
Whistleblowers William Binney Thomas Drake Mark Klein Thomas Tamm Russ Tice
Publication 2005 warrantless surveillance scandal Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)
Related Cablegate Surveillance of reporters Mail tracking UN diplomatic spying Insider Threat Program Mass surveillance in the United States Mass surveillance in the United Kingdom
Concepts SIGINT Metadata
Collaboration United States CSS CYBERCOM DOJ FBI CIA DHS IAO Five Eyes CSEC GCHQ ASD GCSB Other DGSE BND

These special programs are conducted under the code name RAGTIME (also abbreviated as RT), and are divided into several subcomponents. It's said that about fifty companies have provided data to this domestic collection program.

RAGTIME consists of four parts: RAGTIME-A, RAGTIME-B, RAGTIME-C, and RAGTIME-P.[2]

According to the book Deep State, only about three dozen NSA officials have access to RAGTIME's intercept data on domestic counter-terrorism collection, though outside the agency some 1000 people have knowledge of the program's details. Internally, the NSA has a compliance staff of about four or five people to ensure the program stays within laws and regulations.[3]

Under the RAGTIME-P program, the FISA court and the US Attorney General both certify a slate of approved targets, which include bulk data, like phone call logs and records that can be collected around those targets. Apparently, RAGTIME-P can process as many as 50 different data sets at one time.

All intercepted data go to the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, where a program called XKeyscore processes them and sending them to different so-called "production lines" that deal with targets, like counterterrorism or specific countries. These processed data are stored in different NSA databases like PINWALE for internet content and MARINA for internet metadata, which is generally stored for five years.

Originally, RAGTIME only applied to NSA Establishment FISA data, but in 2002 this was changed and since then the program encompasses both NSA Establishment FISA and FBI FISA data.[1] According to Marc Ambinder, RAGTIME refers to phonecall and e-mail content intercepted under FISA authority.[4]