Per SPIEGEL: Snowden showed Spiegel documents that could endanger NSA lives.

[leveymg]

56. This is overblown. CIA runs agent networks abroad. NSA and CIA jointly operate

Last edited Mon Jul 15, 2013, 02:51 PM - Edit history (2)

the Special Collections Service (SCS):

The SCS was established to overcome a problem in that the NSA typically intercepts communications "passively" from its various intercept facilities throughout the world, yet the increasing sophistication of foreign communications equipment renders passive interception futile and instead requires direct access to the communications equipment. The CIA, meanwhile, has access to agents specializing in clandestine operations and thus is more able to gain access to foreign communication equipment, yet lacks the NSA's expertise in communications eavesdropping. Hence, the SCS was born, combining the communications intelligence capabilities of the NSA with the covert action capabilities of the CIA in order to facilitate access to sophisticated foreign communications systems.[1][8][9]

The SCS employs exotic covert listening device technologies to bug foreign embassies, communications centers, computer facilities, fiber-optic networks, and government installations.[1][2] The U.S. government has never officially acknowledged its existence, and little is known about the technologies and techniques it employes.[1] The sole inside account of SCS comes from a Canadian, Mike Frost, whose 1994 book Spyworld (ISBN 978-0385254946) revealed that the program was known to insiders at the time as "College Park."[10] As of 2008, the SCS is reported to target for recruitment key foreign communications personnel such as database managers, systems administrators, and information technology specialists. (Wike)[11]

Please see my comment above.