US surveillance foiled 50 plots, says spy chief Alexander

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22963608

The head of America's electronic spying agency has told Congress surveillance programmes leaked by Edward Snowden helped thwart 50 attacks since 2001.

Army General Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency (NSA), told the House intelligence committee the snooping operations were critical.

"In recent years these programmes, together with other intelligence, have protected the US and our allies from terrorist threats across the globe to include helping prevent potential terrorist events over 50 times since 9/11," he said.

Ten of those plots had been intended for the US, the panel heard.

It all comes down to privacy vs safety. In post 9/11 America, American's simply gave up on their stance of privacy, the patriot act was widely supported by Republican's, the very very same Republican's who are now opposing their own safety.

Make a decision and stick to it, but do not complain when subsequent attacks are successful. You are in the position that you are the number one target (by far) for terrorists. Your foreign policy to to blame for this, a foreign policy that you do not want to change.

If you keep your foreign policy, the threat of terrorism will remain.
If you want your privacy, then these threats will be realised.

Make some choices and stand by them!

 

1) There are D's that are not happy

2) I dont believe a (*)(*)(*)(*)ing word they said. They have lied to us before.

 

I don't care if we knew another 911 was going to happen tomorrow and the government spying on US citizens program could prevent it. It still isn't worth it.

 

I remember hearing about the NY bombing that they thwarted years ago. It seems fair to give up a tiny bit of privacy (far less than we give up to facebook) for public safety. No harm has been caused by giving up some metadata.

 

The question is no how successful these programs have been. The administration could just kill everyone and claim America is 100% terrorism free, but this comes at too high a cost to liberty. Same with the NSA's surveillance programs.

Here's what your priorities should be:

1. liberty
2. defense of that liberty

If given a choice between 1 and 2, always choose 1. There's not much point stopping terrorism if you turn your country into a police state. Wouldn't you rather 27 Islamic terror attacks against Americans since 1880 than an America where the constitution means nothing?

 

It's not a tiny bit.

 

Baaaaaaaaaa Baaaaaaaa.

 

Lets relax our immigration policies, open our borders, hand out green cards to anyone that walks in, and invite as many students from Yemen as possible. I bet the NSA can thwart five times as many terrorist plots in the next decade.

 

The benefit side of this equation is more complicated. The question is 'How successful are they compared to other alternatives?' then compare that to the lost liberty.

 

" US surveillance foiled 50 plots, says spy chief Alexander "

course now, sadly, that the terrorists know whats up, I doubt as many will be foiled in future

this was only effective when it was done in secret....


.

 

I agree, when the 911 terrorists stole those planes we were used to hijacking, had the government done nothing the passengers would still have prevented them just like they are now... cause they would know if they don't their gonna die

how much did the terrorists spend to accomplish their goal, how much have we spent and lost in are response to it

just like we can not 100% protect ourselves from the weather, same is true of a suicidal person bent on doing us harm

.

 

Repeal the Patriot Act. Make the government go to court and get a warrant from a Court that people can see in order to gather meta data.

 

Good luck with that as long as people keep voting in the establishments choices for the two parties ~

 

My, such a well thought out and in-depth reply. ROTFLMAO!

 

Here's a good assessment of the lost liberty:

 

Really? What does the NSA know about the average American that Facebook doesn't already know?

 

The NSA has been intercepting ALL internet traffic. They have a copy of ALL internet traffic. Whether or not they actually look at it, or can use it in a legal setting is irrelevant.

 

When was the last time Facebook raided a home based on what was posted on their site?

"IF" I chose to post on Facebook that is a decision made knowing that the information is public. When I send someone an email or place a phone call, I have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The Government is violating that expectation....whether they are specifically reading/listening or not. That is a violation of the 4th amendment of the Constitution.

"You know nothing, John Snow"

 

"In recent years these programs, together with other intelligence, have protected the US and our allies from terrorist threats across the globe to include helping prevent potential terrorist events over 50 times since 9/11, but I cannot prove/show any evidence that verifies these claims or identify even one person who was captured or brought to justice/held accountable because that information is classified due to national security. But you can trust me, I work for the government, and I would never say anything that wasn't true."

 

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin

 

Much like NDI James Clapper.
[video=youtube;zRhjgynfhag]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRhjgynfhag[/video]

Seems legit.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/12/nsa-surveillance-data-terror-attack

 

How about Obama stop making new terrorist? Lets start there.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3421586

 

I had my webcam on yesterday and I heard a cough from my lappy. I knew it was an NSA agent so I asked how he was doing. He said he was fine but had a slight cold. I told him that he should just go home and call it a sick day.

If you choose to live in the US, you agree to be watched by intelligence agencies. It's been like that for generations and politicians and the public were aware of it. But in this age of profound ignorance, the truth has been lost. Last week we "discovered" that there is an organization called the "NSA" and it keeps metadata... and it's been doing this without hiding the fact from the public for a very long time.

Thanks, Snowden, for revealing to us what we already knew.

 

Are you trying to be cute?

 

There are only two threats worth looking for an all major governments support in detecting these are a true nuclear bomb (not dirty bomb) and a weapon form of a biological agent example flue like airborne Ebola or something else that nasty. A car bomb, cell of shooters or other minor threat and with our population that is minor are not issues regular vigilance and awareness, basic measures such as checkpoints at airports and the likes are sufficient for the threat.

And no one opposed if one has evidence of terror plots one shouldn't get a warrants and act on them, Russia warned us about the Boston Terrorists and we did nothing to at least monitor them.