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             NSA Chief: Surveillance Programs Prevented 50+ Attacks

   U.S. National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander says NSA
   surveillance programs have helped prevent more than 50 terrorist
   attacks since 9/11.
   He said two recently disclosed surveillance programs that gather U.S.
   phone records and track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by
   foreigners with possible links to terrorism "are critical to protecting
   our country."
   General Alexander gave a congressional committee some information on
   two cases he said the programs thwarted. One a plot from Yemen to bomb
   the New York Stock Exchange and another that involved providing funding
   for a Somalia-based terrorist group.
   He said he would give the committee documents about the rest of the
   cases Wednesday in a classified setting.
   Deputy Attorney General James Cole also testified that there are
   several checks for abuse in the surveillance programs and they have
   oversight by all three branches of government.
   The committee chairman, Republican Mike Rogers, and top Democratic
   member C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger agreed the programs are legal as well
   as critical. They criticized the recent leaks about the programs, with
   Rogers calling it "criminal behavior".
   On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama repeated earlier assertions the
   NSA programs were a legitimate counterterror tool and completely
   noninvasive to people with no terror ties.
   In a PBS television interview, he insisted the NSA phone and Internet
   monitoring efforts operate within the law.
   National intelligence legal chief Robert S. Litt said under the
   programs any information collected on a conversation because of an
   error must be purged from the system.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/nsa-chief-surveillance-programs-preve
   nted-50-attacks/1684187.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/nsa-chief-surveillance-programs-prevented-50-attacks/1684187.html