Is the NSA's data snooping actually effective?

The NSA says it has foiled dozens of terror attacks. They just can't tell you about most of them.

Alexander
(Image credit: (Alex Wong/Getty Images))

The White House on Wednesday released a much-anticipated independent review of the National Security Agency's spy programs, which offered 46 recommendations for reforming the agency's spy ops.

The report concluded that the programs, though they had gone too far, should stay in place. But it nevertheless may have undermined the NSA's claim that the collection of all phone metadata is a necessary tool to combat terrorism.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.