When a government agency pursues projects outside its reach, anything can happen. Sometimes, like NASA's initiative to guide space exploration into the hands of private companies, such projects are highly successful. Other times, they spin out of control.

A recent example The Onion Router or Tor, the anonymity-preserving software created from NSA funds, according to PC World. Tor generated headlines this week for its role in the online drug website, Silk Road. The program's sophistication kept site creator Ross Ulbricht out of custody for several years.

Tor's intended purpose is to provide a platform for journalists, activists, and the like to communicate freely online without fear of exposure and government interference, according to The Guardian. Many parties have been growing increasingly concerned about the integrity of Tor amid reports that the NSA was attempting to hack it.

Documents obtained by exiled whistle blower Edward Snowden and published by The Guardian proved the NSA attempted to beat Tor - with only moderate success. Based on a document titled "Tor Stinks", the NSA partially dethroned Tor by, as The Guardian wrote, "identifying users and then attacking vulnerable software on their computers." NSA agents found Firefox especially susceptible; once cracked, they gained full control over a user's computer.

The core of Tor currently remains uncompromised and most likely will remain that way.

"We will never be able to de-anonymize all Tor users all the time," one top secret document obtained by The Guardian states. "With manual analysis we can de-anonymize a very small fraction of Tor users."

The Guardian reports the NSA has had no success targeting specific users. Tor, by the NSA's documents, is hailed "the king of high-secure, low-latency Internet anonymity." 

"The good news is that they went for a browser exploit, meaning there's no indication they can break the Tor protocol or do traffic analysis on the Tor network," Roger Dingledine, the president of the Tor project told The Guardian. "Infecting the laptop, phone, or desktop is still the easiest way to learn about the human behind the keyboard."