Digging Deep.

This article informs that the use of data mining reportedly helped unmask a terrorist leader months before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., but there are concerns about coordination and privacy. Recent media reports that the U.S. Defense Department identified 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta as part of a U.S.-based terrorist cell months prior to the attacks on Washington and New York have sparked new interest, and controversy, about the Defense Department's relatively nascent abilities to assess huge volumes of data for patterns of behavior that are indicative of terrorists and their activities. The news paper "The New York Times" reported in August that Defense Department lawyers forced three meetings to be canceled where military officials involved with "Able Danger" were to report Atta's name to the U.S. FBI after the program identified him.