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Figures on terror plots foiled by snooping are misleading

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NSA chief admits figures on terror plots foiled by snooping are misleading

The Obama administration issued misleading figures about terrorist  plots  foiled by the National Security Agency’s warrantless  mass-collection of records  of Americans’ every phone call, NSA chief  Gen. Keith Alexander admitted to  lawmakers Wednesday.

“There is no evidence that [bulk] phone records collection helped to  thwart  dozens or even several terrorist plots,” Senate Judiciary  Committee Chairman  Patrick Leahy, told Gen. Alexander of the 54 cases  that administration  officials have cited as the fruit of the NSA’s  controversial domestic  snooping.

“These weren’t all plots, and they weren’t all foiled,” he said.

The Vermont Democrat asked the general to admit that only 13 of the  54 cases  had any connection at all to the United States, “Would you  agree with that, yes  or no?”

“Yes,” replied Gen. Alexander, who is both director of NSA and  commander of  the U.S. military’s Cyber Command.  In response to a  follow-up question, Mr.  Alexander also acknowledged that only one or two  of the cases cited by senior  officials at previous hearings had  actually been foiled by the NSA’s vast  database.

“The American people are getting left with an inaccurate impression of the  effectiveness of NSA programs,” Mr. Leahy said.

He added that details of the 54 cases, even those provided to lawmakers in  special classified briefings, were “unconvincing.”

“We get more from the newspapers than we do in the classified briefings that  you give us,” he told Gen. Alexander.

“And we get a crossword puzzle, too,” he added.

“The government has not made its case that bulk collection of  domestic phone  records is an effective counterterrorism tool, especially  in light of the  intrusion on Americans’ privacy,” the senator  concluded.

The NSA’s bulk collection program uses a provision of the USA Patriot  Act to  acquire telephone company records of the time, duration and  numbers calling and  called of every single phone call made in the United  States. It was exposed in  documents leaked by former NSA contract  computer technician Edward J.  Snowden.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who testified  alongside  Gen. Alexander, told the hearing that the number of plots  foiled should not be  the only metric by which the success of the program  is measured. “I think  there’s another metric here that’s very  important. … I would call it the  peace-of-mind metric.”

He explained that they could also use the database to satisfy  themselves  that global terrorists abroad did not have connections or  associates in the  United States.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/2/nsa-chief-figures-foiled-terror-plots-misleading/#ixzz2gbRgX02d Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

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