Pre-9/11 records help flag suspicious calling

[kpete]

Pre-9/11 records help flag suspicious calling
By John Diamond and Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY
Tue May 23, 7:04 AM ET

Armed with details of billions of telephone calls, the National Security Agency used phone records linked to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to create a template of how phone activity among terrorists looks, say current and former intelligence officials who were briefed about the program.

...................

The "call detail records" are the electronic information that is logged automatically each time a call is initiated. For more than 20 years, local and long-distance companies have used call detail records to figure out how much to charge each other for handling calls and to determine problems with equipment.

In addition to the number from which a call is made, the detail records are packed with information. Also included: the number called; the route a call took to reach its final destination; the time, date and place where a call started and ended; and the duration of the call. The records also note whether the call was placed from a cellphone or from a traditional "land line."

"They see everything," says Sergio Nirenberg, director of systems engineering at Science Applications International Corp., a Fortune 500 research and engineering company that works with the federal government. Nirenberg said he does not have direct knowledge of the NSA database.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060523/pl_usatoday/pre911recordshelpflagsuspiciouscalling;_ylt=AuzQWAXD3TJO2DC6lEtBrgACCGYD;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

1. What about a flurry of calls between family members overseas and here

in anticipation of say, planning a wedding?

There are so many patterns this "activity template" could fit...it's all such b.s. MKJ

[leveymg]

2. Bingo. "The Big Wedding" was the al-Qaeda codename for 9/11

So, if there's evidence such a template was in place before 9/11, that would be additional supporting evidence of prior knowledge of the attack by the USG.

Of course there was such a template - it was called Able-Danger.

[leveymg]

3. NOTE: NSA admits it was keeping Call Detail Records prior to 9/11

That demonstrates that this data containing US Citizens calling records was not being minimized (destroyed) by NSA as the law requires.

Read the article carefully, particularly this part:

The "call detail records" are the electronic information that is logged automatically each time a call is initiated. For more than 20 years, local and long-distance companies have used call detail records to figure out how much to charge each other for handling calls and to determine problems with equipment.

SNIP

USA TODAY disclosed this month that the NSA secretly collected call records of tens of millions of Americans with the help of three companies: AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth. The call records include information on calls made before the Sept. 11 attacks.