Why is it that folks forget that testimony was given that bulk collection of data had not assisted in preventing a single terrorist attack?
Why do people not accept what the NSA has itself said, that the USA Freedom Act actually better provides them with the tools they need than did the Patriot Act?
Because the "testimony" from the FBI was that metadata had not "thwarted any MAJOR terror attacks." But then there weren't any major terror attacks after 911 during the Bush administration, except for overseas and maybe some situations like that guy who blew up outside a sporting event, whom the FBI claimed wasn't a terrorist, even though he had the Koran in his bedroom and had built a suicide vest.
I think it would be pretty foolish to believe that the FBI was not actively using metadata to keep track of suspected individuals throughout the United States, and that there is a great deal we don't know going on that is not told us.
But then, the primary benefit of bulk collection isn't the access-- which the government can get anytime even without bulk collection, albeit through a slower process-- it is the SPEED of the access that is important, and is something that is to come into play when a massive terror attack is already in the works:
"Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., asked Rogers to imagine this: a plane takes off in Boston and turns south toward New York when it was scheduled to go to Montreal. The plane will enter New York airspace in 15 minutes. Theoretically, one of the passengers may have recently been in phone contact with a known terrorist, a clear warning signal. The question Coates put to Rogers: would he be able to get information about the passengers or other suspects in time to act?
“Under the previous framework, I, as the head of the NSA, was delegated the authority and the responsibility in emergency situations to authorize access to the data. I then had to go to the [FISA] court and to the attorney general and put into writing why I did it, what I did, and what the basis for that decision was,†Rogers answered. “Now as we transition to the new law, which we have to have firmly in place by November the 29th, I have lost that authority. It has now been raised to the attorney general and I will have to approach the attorney general for why she needs to authorize emergency access.â€
http://www.govexec.com/defense/2015/09/nsa-head-loss-access-metadata-will-hurt-intelligence/122069/
So now we're losing this sort of emergency access just to satisfy to Art Bell who thinks the government is listening to all his phone calls.