So the “damage” caused by the American Patriotic Whistleblower, Edward Snowden, is being reviewed to see how badly national security has be damaged. To the President…..the only this that has been damaged is the credibility and trust of you, your administration and the supporting cast of congress.
This issue at hand here is not that the NSA is collecting and analyzing phone records and internet data, but that it was kept a secret from the American people and was continually lied about. You make the assumption that the American people are simpletons and cannot engage or comprehend a discussion of such a sensitive nature.
What concerns Americans is the lack of transparency that your office declared would happen, and what has actually happened. In practicality, having the NSA collect phone records and Internet data, and mining for patterns to prevent terrorist acts is a novel and sound idea. But the lack of transparency and oversight is the problem. We as Americans willingly give our information every day with out tweets and loyalty cards, but as someone else mentioned, Amazon or Twitter can’t arrest you or audit your taxes, and without proper oversight, those checks and balances are out of order.
As with any government agency, for it to exist, there must be an issue or problem for it to resolve. What if there is a long quiet period, no activity of terrorist plotting and the world becomes a safer place, would the program still be needed? Would that division of the NSA and Justice Dept. be downsized? Or will they (like the TSA) vocalize and create out of thin air, problems that need to be addressed, hence justifying their existence.
Also, it’s pretty naive to think that most Americans did not already assume that some level of recording and tracking of our online life wasn’t already being watched and analyzed by the gov’t in some form or another. The American people are not as simpletons or commoners as you may believe, regardless of how we collectively portray ourselves and conduct our everyday lives.
So, a special note to the people who represent me and who I can directly impact with my vote. To Representative George Holding, Senator Richard Burr and Senator Kay Hagan. The most important thing to me, above all else, is my personal freedom and liberty. For the next election cycle, I will be a single issue voter. For you to support the prosecution of American patriots that are whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden, is not to align with my beliefs of trust, transparency, freedom and liberty, and will reflect in my voting decision. This is the one single issue that each of you will be running on as far as I’m concerned. While I am just one vote, I am one voice, and a very vocal voice at that.
Reuters – The Obama administration has launched an internal review to assess damage to national security from Edward Snowdens public release of top secret details of National Security Agency eavesdropping programs, a senior U.S. intelligence official told Reuters.
via Obama administration weighing damage from NSA disclosures | Reuters.
L u k e n . o r g 
Tony, YOU are not a simpleton and YOU could have an intelligent discussion on the practices of the NSA.
However, 80% of American’s have not the technical skills nor the knowledge to engage in such discussions.
We, the people, do not have ALL the information to make a sensible judgment if the practices of the NSA are violating our Constitutional rights.
We, the people, have transferred the job of judging these actions to our representatives, who have enacted a set of Laws to govern such activities.
You stated there is no oversight of these activities. Well, there is the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court and the members of the Senate and House of Representatives.
These entities are empowered to act on behalf of The People.
You discussed transparency. Yes, the War on Terrorism is much different than say the War against Hitler and his Nazi henchmen. Terrorist are hiding amongst us and as such we have to create new methods to find them and bring them to justice.
The real problem here is TRUST. We, The People, the ones who think hard about the balancing of finding Rats amongst us versus eroding our civil liberties. We must find representatives who ARE WORTHY OF OUR TRUST..
I do find some comfort in the fact that two different Presidents from both sides of the political spectrum find it necessary to engage in these tactics. I do find some comfort that Senators and Congressmen from both parties defend the practices.
I find no comfort in the knowledge that we are in an ongoing war with men intent on destroying freedom around the world.
Freedom requires vigilance from everyone!
Let’s hope when it is all said and done, the people we have entrusted are worthy of our trust.