The NSA actually developed a program called 'Skynet'

The program of the namesake as the 'Terminator' films' was used to monitor cellphone records

The NSA has been revealed to have developed a secret program called Skynet, which attempted to identify terrorist connections.

The program, unlike it’s Terminator namesake, has not attempted to overthrow humanity, but has tracked the movements of people within Pakistan from cellphone records and warned when those activities matched movements of suspected Al Qaeda couriers.

As reported by The Intercept, the report based on documents released by Edward Snowden disclosed some of the activities Skynet was watching out for, including arrivals at destinations, travelling certain days of the week and swapping SIM cards often.

The success of the program has yet to be disclosed, however it did flag a high-profile journalist Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan as a target, claims the journalist categorically denies, explaining he has sources within the group who he corresponds with, actions that would mimic suspicious movements.

Other documents revealed by Edward Snowden showed the extent to which drone killing occurs and how often the targets are based upon metadata analysis.

In May 2014, Michael Hayden, a former NSA director, admitted that "we kill people based on metadata”, including Osama bin Laden, whose location in Pakistan was identified by his mobile phone calling patterns.