There are excuses, and then there are reasons. Surely the government would know better than the masses, right? At the very least, this is the particular consensus that we seem to have come across, where top U.S. intelligence officials claim that the kind of information they gleaned from a couple of controversial data-collection programs which were run by the National Security Agency (NSA) did their part in thwarting potential terrorist plots in the US, and not only that, also helped “save” 20 other countries from potentially devastating and economically crippling terrorist plots. If this bit of information would help you sleep better at night, then here it is – the NSA claims that all gathered data meant for intelligence purposes are then destroyed every five years.
US intelligence officials also claimed that in 2012, less than 300 phone numbers were checked against the database of millions of U.S. phone records which were gathered daily by the NSA, but even if the figure has been dropped down to less than 10, does it justify the intrusion of privacy that we all hold on dear to? While we are treated to word that 20 other countries had terrorist plans thwarted against them, there are no additional details concerning those plots, so someone with insider information ought to write a book about the entire situation. I guess at the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves this question – do the ends justify the means?
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