[conservativejoy]

Strip our investigative agencies of their ability to gather intelligence and the figures you cite will dramatically change. When people tell you they want to kill you, it is wise to believe them.

[Kay Ludlow]

When people tell you they want to kill you, it is wise to be armed and ready. I don't think the collected data is really stopping much in the way of terrorism (although I think amount of firepower in the hands of US individuals is a deterrent). What I think it IS being used for is business espionage (which is not something the GOVT should be doing); providing intel on political enemies of those controlling a couple of oversight committees and probably the White House; threatening elected officials to vote the way ‘The Agency” wants, etc. All are things one would expect in the Stasi, not in US agencies funded by taxpayers.

[LibertyLA]

Strip our investigative agencies of their ability to gather intelligence and the figures you cite will dramatically change. When people tell you they want to kill you, it is wise to believe them.

Ha! I'll bet they want to kill me - I'm christian and not willing to bow to anyone (including govt employees with delusions of grandeur). And if they really cared about security - why are our borders WIDE open. None of this is for our security,

I don't think anyone is stripping anything here: A judge will still be able to grant as many wire taps as the govt wants - that is legal and constitutional. It's plainly in the 4th amendment. I just think BAFTA, EPA, IRS, and other alphabet agencies won't have a database to round up the conservatives, gun owners, and christians when the time comes time to do so... why make it so easy for a leftist, socialist FedGov bureaucracy to have our private info?

As for me, one of my ancestors was at Valley Forge - I honor him by not becoming a coward. If they kill some of us, well, that's the price you pay if you want a free country.

Also, the founding fathers had the terrorist British attack and burn down Washington DC (including the White House) - they never thought to strip us of our rights! But they were men back then - not scared adult-children begging for someone to protect them. I've broken bones, gashed limbs, etc. Never thought to sue anyone or ask someone to protect me. Maybe I'm just out of step with the new safety first, transgender LGBT, dumbed down, America.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

The "ability to gather intelligence" is of no value whatever, absent the resolve to use that intelligence decisively against the enemy.

When we have leaders who are ready to name the enemy, and wage ruthless war against him until he is vanquished, THEN they may be entitled to a temporary use of these intelligence tools. Not before.