Harris writes that mass surveillance in the U.S. accelerated due to the aftermath of the September 11th attacks , while the impetus behind it goes back decades to the Reagan Administration . Then , as Harris recounts , the National Security Agency 's Director , Michael Hayden , spearheads a successful secret campaign to persuade the rest of the Bush administration to expand the efforts made previously under the Total Information Awareness ( TIA ) program . The NSA organizes a massive undertaking to sort through the vast data cloud of e-mails , phone calls , and the like that it can collect ; its work expands and expands over the years
September 11th attacks
September 11 attacks
The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State