NSA phone record collection does little to prevent terrorist attacks, group says
Source: Washington Post
An analysis of 225 terrorism cases inside the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has concluded that the bulk collection of phone records by the National Security Agency has had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism.
In the majority of cases, traditional law enforcement and investigative methods provided the tip or evidence to initiate the case, according to the study by the New America Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit group.
The study, to be released Monday, corroborates the findings of a White House-appointed review group, which said last month that the NSA counterterrorism program was not essential to preventing attacks and that much of the evidence it did turn up could readily have been obtained in a timely manner using conventional [court] orders....
Senior administration officials have defended the program as one tool that complements others in building a more complete picture of a terrorist plot or network. And they say it has been valuable in knocking down rumors of a plot and in determining that potential threats against the United States are nonexistent. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. calls that the peace of mind metric...
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-phone-record-collection-does-little-to-prevent-terrorist-attacks-group-says/2014/01/12/8aa860aa-77dd-11e3-8963-b4b654bcc9b2_story.html
djean111
(14,255 posts)of any group who asks nicely. The bulk collection cannot prevent any damned thing at all, methinks, but I also think it sure does come in useful for all sorts of things. Now that it is, evidently, acceptable to construct an alternative explanation of where info was gotten, if there was n warrant, bulk collection is a veritable wonderland. Hoover would have wept tears of happiness.
Indi Guy
(3,992 posts)When authorities wish to fabricate a case against any individual, it sure is great to have that backlog of data from which to spin any desired narrative.
Thats how the Communists in Russia & China have been using their bulk data for decades.
On the Road
(20,783 posts)That is incorrect.
Indi Guy
(3,992 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Indi Guy
(3,992 posts)...their stated goals are not their ultimate goals.