The Patriot Post® · 'No Other Way' for NSA?

National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander told Congress that the NSA’s surveillance is just part of the price we must pay to be secure. “There is no other way to connect the dots,” Alexander told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “We cannot go back to a pre-9/11 moment. … Taking these programs off the table is not the thing to do.” He’s certainly correct that we can’t go back to a pre-9/11 moment or mindset. Murderous jihadis continue to plot to kill Americans and we must remain vigilant. On the other hand, collecting information on every single phone call in the U.S., along with sweeping collection of email and other data produced by Americans strikes us as too much. Of course the NSA argues that these things are needed and useful, and no doubt some information collected has been used to thwart jihadi plots. The question is whether those plots could only have been foiled by collecting everyone’s phone records, as Alexander contends. We doubt the answer is yes.