NSA: ‘Dozens’ of Attacks Averted

Let’s get some answers. On Wednesday, NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander testified in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee in a previously scheduled hearing on cybersecurity and defended the surveillance work the organization has done. “It’s dozens of terrorist events that these helped prevent,” he said, also noting it’s impossible to assert that one particular surveillance program was responsible for preventing an attack on its own. He said NSA employees “do this lawfully. They take compliance, oversight, protecting civil liberties and privacy and the security of this nation to their heart.” On Tuesday, lawmakers held a closed meeting with counterterrorism officials to learn about the spy programs, and tomorrow the full Senate will be privately briefed.