'Connect the Dots' -- An Alternative to NSA Bulk Surveillance?

The National Research Council concluded there is no technological replacement for the National's Security Agency's mass surveillance and therefore should not be fully replaced. But there may in fact be a viable alternative -- and it’s been around for more than a decade, according to J. Kirk Wiebe, a former NSA analyst.

The idea behind Wiebe’s alternative is simple. It boils down to “connect the dots,” he said. “It's basically an approach to surveillance that relies on old police tried-and-true investigation that says find a suspect, find a clue, pursue it, chase it down, see if it's accurate," Wiebe said. "If it's not, hopefully, you have another clue." Essentially, the system replaces bulk collection of phone records with a color-coded system for tracking potential suspects: Red denotes a Constitutionally protected US citizen. A yellow code indicates a potential target of interest, either overseas or domestic. And green represents a known terrorist suspect.