NSA snooped on porn habits of Islamist radicals to discredit them: Report

Washington – The documents revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden have reportedly indicated that the US’ spy agency allegedly spied on the porn habits of Islamist radicals in order to find ways to discredit them.

The classified document, dated 3 October 2012, claims that the NSA snooped on six unnamed ‘radicalisers’ and their visits to pornographic websites, aimed to find their ‘personal vulnerabilities’ to undermine their credibility.

According to Huffington Post, the six people tracked weren’t accused of being involved in terror plots and the NSA allegedly believed that those targeted lived outside the US.

The vulnerabilities listed by the NSA that can be effectively exploited include ‘viewing sexually explicit material online’ and ‘using sexually explicit persuasive language when communicating with inexperienced young girls’.

The documents claim that the vulnerabilities, if exposed, would likely call into question a radicaliser’s devotion to the jihadist cause, leading to the degradation or loss of his authority.

Meanwhile, the NSA referred to a statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which stated that the US government uses all lawful measures to impede the efforts of valid terrorist targets who seek to harm the nation and radicalize others to violence.

Stewart Baker, a one-time general counsel for the NSA and a top Homeland Security official in the Bush administration, in defense of the tactics said that this measure is much more humane than bombing a target, the report added.