The FBI is currently seeking $12 million to develop a new, mammoth, data-mining center that will collect billions of records on individuals suspected of terrorist connections over the next few years. The new National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) proposed in the Department of Justice's FY2008 budget justification document, will include 90,000 square feet of office space and a total of 59 staff, including 23 contractors and five FBI agents.
In their letter, Subcommittee Chairman Brad Miller and Ranking Member James Sensenbrenner ask the GAO to investigate what specific information will be contained in the records the new center collects, whether the "records" of U.S. citizens will be included in its database, how this data will be employed and how the FBI plans to ensure that the data is not misused or abused in any way.
"Documents predict the NASC will include six billion records by FY2012. This amounts to 20 separate 'records' for each man, woman and child in the United States," wrote the Subcommittee leaders.
The FBI believes the new center will help it model patterns of suspicious terrorist behavior and improve its efforts to identify "sleeper cells" in the United States.
