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Ex-NSA Chief: ‘We Kill People Based on Metadata’
By Lee Ferran
May 12, 2014 12:59pm
The U.S. government “kill[s] people based on metadata,” but it doesn’t do that with the trove of information collected on American communications, according to former head of the National Security Agency Gen. Michael Hayden.
Hayden made the remark after saying he agreed with the idea that metadata – the information collected by the NSA about phone calls and other communications that does not include content – can tell the government “everything” about anyone it’s targeting for surveillance, often making the actual content of the communication unnecessary.
“[That] description… is absolutely correct. We kill people based on metadata. But that’s not what we do with this metadata,” said Hayden, apparently referring to domestic metadata collection. “It’s really important to understand the program in its entirety. Not the potentiality of the program, but how the program is actually conducted.
By Lee Ferran
May 12, 2014 12:59pm
The U.S. government “kill[s] people based on metadata,” but it doesn’t do that with the trove of information collected on American communications, according to former head of the National Security Agency Gen. Michael Hayden.
Hayden made the remark after saying he agreed with the idea that metadata – the information collected by the NSA about phone calls and other communications that does not include content – can tell the government “everything” about anyone it’s targeting for surveillance, often making the actual content of the communication unnecessary.
“[That] description… is absolutely correct. We kill people based on metadata. But that’s not what we do with this metadata,” said Hayden, apparently referring to domestic metadata collection. “It’s really important to understand the program in its entirety. Not the potentiality of the program, but how the program is actually conducted.
