After the attacks of 9/11, there was a push to increase surveillance of American Citizens. It needs to be mentioned that 9/11 was a caused by middle eastern terrorists, and there was probably little that domestic surveillance, ever massive illegal, wholesale surveillance of US citizens would accomplish. There were, however, real concerns about the possible abuse of such surveillance. The fact is such techniques were the hallmark of so-called Police States.
Yet, after 9/11 a program called Total Information Awareness (TIA) was begun. It was quickly de-funded but was more or less secretly continued for the next 25 years.
Today the capstone seems to be the private corporation run by Peter Thiel, Plantir Technologies. I believe this was instrumental in finding fugitive Luigi Mangione and perhaps many others. Now it seems to be the tool being used by ICE to identify their targets. It also seems to be as unconstitutional and illegal as ever, maybe moreso. From The Guardian (UK).
Steven A. Guccione 