First read this. Also, read the linked letter.

Finished? Are you incensed yet?

I’m not going to scream about how the NSA could have prevented 9/11. As callous as it might sound, mistakes happen. Here are the unforgivable mistakes that the post and the letter illuminate:

1. NSA leadership preferred covering up their mistakes rather than trying to fix the process that led to the mistakes being made.

2. Sacrifice a working system and the Fourth Amendment to buy fancy, high cost, non-working toys from contractors.

3. Engage in bulk data hauls that drown the NSA in data and make it less likely that real threats can be detected.

I don’t know what can be done to fix the NSA. Moreover, I don’t think that there is any interest inside the Beltway to reform it. What it does show is exactly where the priorities of the leadership lie.

H/t Unc

*Title from Demolition Man, which I should go watch again