Claim on “Attacks Thwarted” by NSA Spreads Despite Lack of Evidence
http://www.propublica.org/article/claim-on-attacks-thwarted-by-nsa-spreads-despite-lack-of-evidence
During Keith Alexanders presentation in Las Vegas, two slides read simply 54 ATTACKS THWARTED. The NSA, President Obama, and members of Congress have all said NSA spying programs have thwarted more than 50 terrorist plots. But theres no evidence the claim is true.
Claim on Attacks Thwarted by NSA Spreads Despite Lack of Evidence
by Justin Elliott and Theodoric Meyer
ProPublica, Oct. 23, 2013, 8:59 a.m.
Two weeks after Edward Snowdens first revelations about sweeping government surveillance, President Obama shot back. We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information not just in the United States, but, in some cases, threats here in Germany, Obama said during a visit to Berlin in June. So lives have been saved.
In the months since, intelligence officials, media outlets, and members of Congress from both parties all repeated versions of the claim that NSA surveillance has stopped more than 50 terrorist attacks. The figure has become a key talking point in the debate around the spying programs.
Fifty-four times this and the other program stopped and thwarted terrorist attacks both here and in Europe saving real lives, Rep. Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said on the House floor in July, referring to programs authorized by a pair of post-9/11 laws. This isnt a game. This is real.
But there's no evidence that the oft-cited figure is accurate.