Officials Amp Up Spying Defense
Source: Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON—The director of the National Security Agency on Tuesday mounted his most vigorous defense of two controversial data-surveillance programs, saying they helped thwart more than 50 terror plots and contending the agency might have been able to prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had it had such capabilities.
Testifying before a mostly receptive House Intelligence Committee, Gen. Keith Alexander, flanked by four other top government officials, said the programs have helped the U.S. stave off another major attack on its soil. He and his colleagues disclosed two new examples of known terrorist plots they said were disrupted by the programs, including an attack on the New York Stock Exchange.
He also repeatedly described the surveillance programs as rigorously overseen by various branches of the government.
The comments came at a hastily arranged hearing at which lawmakers and intelligence officials tried to reframe the debate over government surveillance that exploded in the days since former contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of the two NSA programs. One collects phone-call records from millions of Americans, and another, called Prism, uses U.S. Internet companies to intercept foreign communications. On Tuesday, Google Inc. GOOG +1.62% asked a secret surveillance court for permission to say more about its involvement in Prism.
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324520904578553302776398828.html
PB
= new reply since forum marked as read
