General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: NSA: Since Metadata is usually attached/embedded in Content, what is the procedure to separate it? [View all]jmowreader
(53,209 posts)If you are an intelligence analyst at a station with a reporting mission, the computers that store your reports (there are several) strip the headers off the reports and store them in databases separate from the report content. IIRC the two databases aren't on the same machine; they weren't in the late 1980s-early 1990s timeframe.
The system can also go through a report and strip it down so consumers only receive the information they're authorized to have. If Field Station Hoboken can't hold Top Secret data and Field Station Hoboken is on the distribution list for your report that's half Secret and half Top Secret, the system will redo your report to remove everything Field Station Hoboken isn't allowed to have.
This is all done automatically, no operator intervention required.