The CIA monitors Twitter, Facebook, local radio stations daily...

In an unassuming brick building in an anonymous industrial park in Virginia, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) monitors tweets around the world, up to 5 million of them a day. At the CIA's Center for Public Sources, a team of experts known as "vengeful librarians" also checks Facebook, newspapers, television, local radio stations, Internet chats, or any freely accessible foreign source.

From Arabic to Mandarin Chinese, from an angry tweet to a thought blog, analysts collect data and very often in the original language. They compare the collected data with local newspapers or a secretly intercepted phone call. In this way, they put together the picture that the highest officials in the White House ask of them in order to find out the real situation in a certain place at a certain moment.

If you happen to be wondering, yes, they knew, for example, that the Egyptians would revolt, but they didn't know exactly when it would happen, he confirmed for AP center director Doug Naquin. They estimated that social media in countries such as Egypt will be of great importance, that is, they will be a great threat to the ruling regime.

That CIA agency was established in response to the recommendations of the 11/XNUMX Commission, and its priority is the fight against terrorism. Nevertheless, several hundred analysts, whose actual number is unknown to the public, follow events around the world, from Internet access in China to the mood of citizens on the streets of Pakistan. And while most of them are based in Virginia, many analysts are scattered around the world in US embassies to get closer to their subjects.

The center began monitoring social networks after Twitter shook the Iranian regime during the 2009 Green Revolution.

The center began monitoring social networks after Twitter shook the Iranian regime during the 2009 Green Revolution. Thousands then protested against the results of the election in which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won again. Director Naqvin explained that Farsi was then the third most spoken language on social networks.

How important the Center is is shown by the fact that their reports end up in the hands of President Barack Obama almost every day.

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