"THE SPY FACTORY" Discovery Channel 10pm Friday
A series of the Spy Factory started on Discovery Channel last Friday, it was about satellite technology & how they were able to track & listen to conversations between Osama bin Laden & his al Qaeda headquarters in Yemen, giving his satallite phone No as 00-873 682505331. It also showed that the NSA, CIA & FBI will not communicate with each other to the extent that they would rather carry out "turf wars" than pass on information to each other with the dramatic & inevitable consequences of 9/11.
Until 9/11 it was illegal for US Agencies to blanket monitor it's Citizens. An Ally (not a million miles from here) carried out Intelligence gathering on their behalf. Three days after 9/11 President Bush made an Executive Order to rescind the Law to allow NSA to carry out Domestic monitoring.
There are now 30 locations in the US listening to phone, text, telex & e-mail of US Citizens. At the AT&T Regional Switching Centre at 611, Bolson Street in San Francisco where the Pacific & Asia traffic is monitored, Domestic traffic has now been split so that it can also be monitored. This raw data is then transmitted to Fort Mead, Maryland where the NSA have their powerful Cray super computers to check on Key/Trigger words.
Although the series will include a lot of "cloak & dagger" stuff, I understand that they will also be highlighting the latest Stealth & UAV technology.