Nathan wrote:

... It seems that most of the data they collect is wiped within 3 days; that the data itself can only be analyzed under a fairly specific set of minimization rules....

Are you referring to the 2009 Holder minimization rules which per http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/06/how-many-americans-doe... sharing records on anyone who has ever sent or received email or chat from a foreign national with the FBI, or the more recent "three hop" minimization rules which require permanent storage of the records pertaining to the roughly one billion people who are connected to people connected to people connected with suspects?