295 340 | Confirmed: NSA Paid Google, Microsoft, Others Millions for PRISM Aid, August 23, 2013

https://gizmodo.com/confirmed-nsa-paid-google-microsoft-others-millions-1188615332
https://archive.md/A0Wq6

In a way, the high cost of compliance is the NSA's own fault. Back in 2011, a secret FISA court ruled that the NSA's inability to separate foreign from domestic intelligence violated the Fourth Amendment.

According to documents obtained by The Guardian, this led to a new certification process for the technology companies that were helping out, and according to the law, the onus fell on the federal government to cover the associated costs. The millions of taxpayer dollars' worth of costs.

The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence.

The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign and domestic intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, specializing in a discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT).

The NSA is also tasked with the protection of U.S. communications networks and information systems.

The NSA relies on a variety of measures to accomplish its mission, the majority of which are clandestine.