This is why you don't need blanket surveillance on your entire population. Many old hat NSA guys have stated repeatedly that its the connections that matter. With terrorists, you have to monitor the connections to foreign countries that sponsor terrorism, have active terror cells in them and are hostile to the US. Then again, maybe they really don't want to know the people plotting against us are some of our own supposed "allies"?
Had they done that, they could have easily predicted and probably prevented nearly every terrorist attack, including the 9/11 attacks. Blanket surveillance actually allows for more cover for terrorists and the ability to hide through obscurity.
This is why you don't need blanket surveillance on your entire population. Many old hat NSA guys have stated repeatedly that its the connections that matter. With terrorists, you have to monitor the connections to foreign countries that sponsor terrorism, have active terror cells in them and are hostile to the US. Then again, maybe they really don't want to know the people plotting against us are some of our own supposed "allies"?
Had they done that, they could have easily predicted and probably prevented nearly every terrorist attack, including the 9/11 attacks. Blanket surveillance actually allows for more cover for terrorists and the ability to hide through obscurity.