◆ SpookStack

SCOTT: Not always, but sometimes. CAPRONI: Right, it's about half and half. SCOTT: You're using this mindset against United States citizens. OK, when you get all this information, like Social Security numbers and phone records, how long is this information retained? -CAPRONI: The issue of retaining national security -- data that’s obtained via national security letters is subject to a working group that the DNI is chairing together with the Department of Justice and that we will participate on in terms of how long we should keep it. As of right now, it's subject to the normal archive rules, and so we keep it for whatever the law under archives requires, which is typically 20 years. SCOTT: Twenty years. Now, how many criminal convictions have you gotten from NSL letters, information -- how much information from NSL letters has resulted in criminal convictions for terrorism-related offenses? CAPRONI: That was one of the questions that the LG. was charged with answering. And I think deriving it is very difficult, because while national security letters are typically used in the beginning of an investigation, we don't tag the data, and so tracing it through to know whether national security data started in a case that ended in an investigation. SCOTT: Well, Mr. Fine, can you answer the question? FINE: No, we tried to, but you cannot tell how many convictions resulted. It's not specifically segrepated or tagged or lied. And when we tried to follow it through the system, it was very hard to do that. So I can't give you a number. SCOTT: If somebody said one, would that surprise you? Could you contest that number? CAPRONI: I would.