NOVA examines the role the National Security Agency (NSA) played in
tracking Al Qaeda operatives prior to the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.
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explains how Soviet phone communications were intercepted during
the Cold War.
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notes that listening in on communications became more difficult
when the targets were terrorists who used a variety of means to
converse, including cell phones, satellite phones, public pay
phones, and e-mail.
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reveals that the NSA gained access to Osama bin Laden's direct
satellite phone and began listening to his calls in 1996.
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shows how satellite phone communications are tracked.
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explains how the NSA determined the location of bin Laden's
operation center in Yemen.
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chronicles the movements of Al Qaeda operatives from when they
first came to the United States in 2000 up until they executed
their attacks.
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explains how the NSA monitored those Al Qaeda operatives for a
year and a half while they were training and planning for the
9-11 attacks.
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considers why there was no interagency communication regarding
the whereabouts of the terrorists.
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reports on President George W. Bush's executive order, issued
after the 2001 attacks, that cleared the way for eavesdropping
on U.S. citizens without a warrant.
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traces how an e-mail travels from Malaysia to California.
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describes how a telecommunications worker discovered that the
NSA was intercepting all international and domestic
communications that his company was receiving.
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explores advances in data-monitoring programs intended to help
sort out suspicious communications among the huge amounts of
data being generated.
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considers the question of whether Americans are safer now than
they were prior to the terrorist attacks.
