If it’s an all or nothing choice, I’ll take ALL. Quite obviously all this wonderful surveillance capability did nothing to stop Boston or Major Hassan. We’d be safer if we just stopped letting Muslims into the country, deported those who are not yet citizens & got out of sticking our noses in the Mideast. If they bother us again, nuke Mecca!
The problem with that is that we don't know the details of the NSA work that could have led to the prevention of the Boston bomb attack.
Let me give you a plausible for-instance.
Let's say that NSA intercepted communications from Chechnya to the Bomber Brothers that mentioned one of the local Boston mosques. Assume that information was sent to the President with a request for his support for a wiretap on all communications to and from that Mosque. Assume Obama turned down the NSA request.
I find that possibility to be real since Obama won't allow Mosques to be wiretapped. You assume that the failure in Boston was due to a failure by NSA. What about the FBI? What about Obama?
Be careful. This a Baby and Bathwater choice that our enemies are salivating over. And the great majority of Dems as well. Be careful what you ask for.