The PRISM problem

The PRISM program actually started in 2007 under the Bush administration. It enjoyed the support of many Repubs who now claim to be "outraged" by the surveillance. The program has been defended by its proponents as having stopped many terroritst attacks. President Obama says "You cannot have 100% security and 100% privacy and 0% inconvenience" which may be true on the surface. But the program demands that we sacrifice too much privacy for a questionnable policy. Such mass based monitoring did nothing to prevent the terrorist attack committed by the Tsarnaev brothers, for instance. In fact such free lance terrorism might become the principal threat in the future.

In the case of the Tsaranevs, it was already known that they could be terrorists, but there was a lack of thoroughness. There has been an American tendency to rely on technology alone. That has to be reconsidered.