🚀 go-pugleaf

side effect of the watch list program was the tendency of most
lists to grow, expanding far beyond their original intent. This multiplier
effect was caused by the inclusion of names of people who came in contact
with those persons and organizations already on the lists.

Because of the NSA's vacuum cleaner approach to intelligence collection ---
whereby it sucks into its system the maximum amount of telecommunications and
then filters it through an enormous screen of "trigger words" --- analysts end
up reviewing telephone calls, telegrams, and telex messages to and from
thousands of innocent persons having little or nothing to do with the actual
focus of the effort.

And when a person made the
watch list, any conversations

    EVEN MENTIONING

that person are scooped up.
 
 
P333: By now, the names of U.S. citizens on NSA's many watch lists for
fighting the drug war had grown from the hundreds into the thousands.
 
Even when Noel Gayler took over as Director of the NSA in August 1969,
NSA personnel waited a year or so before briefing even him on the NSA
watch list program.
 
 
P381-382: NSA Director General Allen testified to Congress that there is no
statute that prevents the NSA from interception of domestic communications.
Asked whether he was concerned about the legality of expanding greatly its
targeting of American citizens, the NSA replied: "Legality? That particular
aspect didn't enter into the discussions."
 
 
P459: Innocent Americans - people neither targeted nor watch-listed - are
scooped up into the NSA's giant vacuum cleaner. This happens with
considerable frequency