The “laboratory” was all smoke and mirrors, at least in the fall of 2001. A Hollywood set designer had been hired to create the futuristic-looking command-and-control center with large, sleek display screens and flashing lights. The humming computers were not churning any real data. There was research going on at companies and universities, but the laboratory was just a showcase to convince intelligence officials that data, or more important, spotting patterns in data, could help predict the next terrorist attack.
