Surprise, surprise.
Post-September 11 avalanche of data led FBI to dead ends
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Much of the domestic spying conducted by the National Security Agency after the September 11, 2001 attacks was reportedly unproductive and led the FBI to dead ends or innocent Americans.
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FBI officials checking up on post-September 11 NSA information, which sometimes involved interviews by agents, said the checks were "pointless intrusions on Americans' privacy," said the daily paraphrasing its sources.
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The stream of data led to few potential terrorists inside the United States not already known to authorities and diverted attention from counter-terrorism work FBI officials viewed as more productive.
"We'd chase a number, find it's a schoolteacher with no indication they've ever been involved in international terrorism - case closed," said one former FBI official. "After you get a thousand numbers and not one is turning up anything, you get some frustration," he added.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060117/pl_afp/uspoliticsintelligenceThe article also states that the FBI questioned the legality of the wiretaps.