NSA Call Database - Uses of The Database

Uses of The Database

Although such a database of phone records would not be useful on its own as a tool for national security, it could be used as an element of broader national security analytical efforts and data mining. These efforts could involve analysts using the data to connect phone numbers with names and links to persons of interest. Such efforts have been the focus of the NSA's recent attempts to acquire key technologies from high tech firms in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. Link analysis software, such as Link Explorer or the Analyst's Notebook, is used by law enforcement to organize and view links that are demonstrated through such information as telephone and financial records, which are imported into the program from other sources. Neural network software is used to detect patterns, classify and cluster data as well as forecast future events.

Using relational mathematics it is possible to find out if someone changes their telephone number by analyzing and comparing calling patterns.

ThinThread, a system designed largely by William Binney, which pre-dated this database, but was discarded for the Trailblazer Project, may have introduced some of the technology which is used to analyze the data . Where ThinThread encrypted privacy data, however, no such measures have been reported with respect to the current system.