Source: https://abcnews.com/blogs/headlines/2014/05/ex-nsa-chief-we-kill-people-based-on-metadata
Publisher: ABC News
Date Published: May 12, 2014
Relevant To: General surveillance policy background / framing
Verification Status: Verified
Notes: Former NSA/CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden’s 2014 quote at Johns Hopkins: “We kill people based on metadata. But that’s not what we do with this [domestic] metadata.” Made in defense of NSA bulk phone-records collection, distinguishing the lethal use of metadata in the drone program from domestic bulk collection. Classic, frequently-cited illustration of how seemingly “non-content” data (metadata) can be as revealing and consequential as communications content — useful framing quote for BPA’s broader surveillance-harms advocacy (e.g., ALPR/location metadata).