Comment: Snowden is absolutely right. The NSA never intended to stop terrorism, since it is their own government that is the biggest terrorist in the world. Terrorism has merely been used by the US government as an excuse to further erode the freedoms and rights that every American had at one time, freedoms that have been decimated all in the name of making us safer, which Snowden points out, has never actually happened. It's all been a con job, and we're the marks.
Bulk data gathering programs used by US intelligence have no effect in combating terrorism and have failed to prevent any attacks in their 10 years of operation, whistleblower and former NSA contactor Edward Snowden, claims in a recent interview.
"In the wake of the revelations of mass surveillance the [US] president [Barack Obama] appointed two independent commissions to review the efficiency of these [surveillance] programs, what they really did and what effect they had in combating terrorism. [The commissions comprised] the highest priests of these programs, they found these programs had never stopped a single terrorist attack and never made a concrete difference in a terrorist investigation," Snowden told Spanish TV channel Sexta.
The whistleblower went on saying, that "they [the NSA, CIA] violated the constitution and the rights of 330 million Americans for 10 years. We have to ask ourselves: was it ever worth it?" He also stated that despite being justified by preventing terrorist attacks, surveillance programs are more often used for completely different purposes.
"It was diplomatic manipulation, economic spying and social control. It was about power, and there is no doubt that mass surveillance increases the power of the government."
Comment: This Nazi glorification is becoming all too common at Trump rallies. Trump's popularity is a billboard signaling America's final decline into a totalitarian state.