News: Newly Obtained Declassified Documents Reveal More Details about FBI's NSAC

Wired has run a story on the FBI’s National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) based on newly obtained declassified documents. The Center makes use of a database system that includes “tens of thousands of records from private corporate databases, including car-rental companies, large hotel chains and at least one national department store.” The author of the article speculates that a number of businesses may be voluntarily providing records on specifically named individuals at the FBI’s request – as was the case with JetBlue and passenger records. The database system is being used both for counter-terrorist efforts as well as other criminal investigations. Among the things the system currently contains according to Wired:

• International travel records of citizens and foreigners

• Financial forms filed with the Treasury by banks and casinos

• 55,000 entries on customers of Wyndham Worldwide, which includes Ramada Inn, Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson and Hawthorn Suites

• 730 records from rental-car company Avis

• 165 credit card transaction histories from Sears

• Nearly 200 million records transferred from private data brokers such Accurint, Acxiom and Choicepoint

• A reverse White Pages with 696 million names and addresses tied to U.S. phone numbers

• Log data on all calls made by federal prison inmates

• A list of all active pilots

• 500,000 names of suspected terrorists from the Unified Terrorist Watch List

• Nearly 3 million records on people cleared to drive hazardous materials on the nation’s highways

• Telephone records and wiretapped conversations captured by FBI investigations

• 17,000 traveler itineraries from the Airlines Reporting Corporation

Wired reports that the database system is being used in conjunction with a meta-search engine and link and pattern analysis software.