The Feds’ Bulk Collection of Our Data Records Has Been Expensive and Useless. But That Doesn’t Mean It’s Going to Stop.
“This new report shows that the mass collection of Americans’ phone records turned out not to be a particularly good tool for tracking down terrorism. Its authors determined that the NSA wrote only 15 intelligence reports based on information from call records accessed through the law. Of those, 11 duplicated information that was already in FBI records. Two contained information that the FBI had received through other means. One led the FBI to vet an individual, but it ultimately decided not to open an investigation. So that just leaves just one case where the bureau received unique info that it decided to use to open a foreign intelligence investigation.
All that for $100 million!”