FRONTLINE: United States of Secrets

In a landscape where state secrecy battles digital openness, United States of Secrets, a FRONTLINE documentary, charts a devastating expose of the National Security Agency and a troubling portrayal of official American efforts to track the phone and internet relays of private citizens. Packing an avalanche of comprehensive detail into a two-part documentary, the program painstakingly pieces together the steps taken to shape the last two decades of U.S. government surveillance. The resulting context is chilling: an intricate record of domestic spying since 9/11, punitive measures against NSA employees who refused to toe the line, and strategic attempts to ensure the support of Silicon Valley. Rich, provocative and methodical, United States of Secrets rebuilds the environment that helped drive Edward Snowden’s dumping of an unprecedented amount of classified information. It traces both the extent of government activity in keeping its surveillance plans on track and the lives diminished by that process. For opening our eyes to what happens when the boundaries of the permissible get stretched beyond repair, United States of Secrets earns a Peabody Award.