Remember those 50 plus terrorist plots that the NSA mass surveillance was instrumental in stopping? You won’t be surprised to learn that that was yet another lie. Ars Technica is reporting on a New America Foundation study that examined 225 cases in which terrorist suspects were “…recruited by al-Qaeda or a like-minded group or inspired by al-Qaeda’s ideology, and charged in the United States with an act of terrorism since 9/11…” The report concludes that the NSA’s mass surveillance of Americans played an identifyable role in at most 1.8% of the cases.
What were those cases? It turns out that the 1.8% was 4 people involved in a single incident. The “terrorist plot?” The four conspired to donate $8,500 to the Somali terrorist group Al Shabaab. That’s a useful outcome but it’s really rather trivial compared to the massive trodding upon of millions of Americans’ fourth amendment rights.
The report goes on to say that traditional investigative techniques such as tips from the local community, informants and targeted intelligence were responsible for almost all of the government’s success in preventing terrorist attacks. The NSA is fond of saying that if these programs had been in place at the time, they would have stopped the 9/11 attacks. This report casts doubt on that as does the Boston bombing, which the NSA was unable detect despite the non-existent op sec on the part of the perpetrators leaving clues cluttering the ground.
Despite the report and the NSA’s inability to point to any substantial successes in preventing terrorist plots enabled by their mass surveillance, the usual suspects continue to assure us that these programs are there to keep us safe. Really, it’s time everyone stopped listening to them and start demanding reform. Or to put it in a slightly less polite way, those claiming that these programs are necessary should put up or shut up.
