COULD COME IN HANDY IF YOU WANTED TO WIN AN ELECTION OR SOMETHING: N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens. “Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans’ social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials.”