The article discusses the methodologies used by the U.S. government's intelligence services in espionage from 2001 through the mid 2010s, including the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the government's policies on the intelligence services. Topics, including the U.S. National Security Agency's (NSA's) conducting of electronic surveillance, open source intelligence, human intelligence, the leaking of classified information of the NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the U.S.'s policy of data mining, the civil liberties and privacy of Americans and the relationship between U.S. Internet industry and the NSA, are discussed.