This paper will discuss the technology and methods behind data mining, how data mining works, how it helps to improve national security, and how sustainable the technology is. Sustainability, with regard to data mining, refers to the impact on the quality of life. Quality of life refers to the preservation of human rights and the ability to feel secure. The ethics and the fallbacks regarding privacy will also be discussed in depth, including the benefits that accompany these fallbacks, and whether they outweigh the cons. Both technical and ethical articles will be used to highlight and discuss the potential, good and bad, and the controversy of data mining. Applications of data mining to security will also be proposed. Data mining methods are expanding rapidly allowing for the mass collection of information. This mass amount of information is then used by many government agencies to identify threats, gain intelligence, and obtain a better understanding of enemy networks. However, the ability to collect this information from any computer draws into question whether or not data mining leads to a violation of the average citizen’s privacy and has created a debate as to if data mining is ethically plausible.