Americans Probed Without Reason

In an attempt to pinpoint unscrupulous federal employees, the government collected the personal information of thousands of Americans and distributed that data—including Social Security numbers, addresses, jobs—to about 30 federal agencies including the IRS, the CIA, the NSA, and the FDA, according to the McClatchy New Service's Washington blog. Of the 4,904 people whose information was reportedly mined and shared, thousands have no ties to the U.S. government. Among them were nurses, police officers, psychologists, lawyers, and people who worked at Rite Aid, the American Red Cross, Georgetown University, and Paramount Pictures. They’d been included on the government’s list for purchasing books or DVDs on how to pass a polygraph test.