New Report on the Efficacy of NSA Surveillance of Telephony Metadata

Professor Ruthann Robson, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law

A new report from the New America Foundation is entitled with the question "Do NSA's Bulk Surveillance Programs Stop Terrorists?" 

In brief, the answer it proposes is "no."

Morton Livingston Schamberg, "Telephone" (1916)

The report is authored by Peter Bergen, David Sterman, Emily Schneider, and Bailey Cahall.  As Cyrus Farivar over at Ars Technica points out, the lead author Peter Bergen is well known as "a journalist and terrorism analyst who famously interviewed Osama bin Laden for CNN in 1997."

The report confirms federal District Judge Richard Leon's statement in his opinion in Klayman v. Obama that "the Government does not cite a single instance in which analysis of the NSA’s bulk metadata collection actually stopped an imminent attack, or otherwise aided the Government in achieving any objective that was time-sensitive in nature."   (emphasis in original).   Recall that Judge Leon issued a preliminary injunction against the surveillance, although he then stayed it.

Recall also that another federal district judge dismissed a complaint raising essentially the same issues a week later in American Civil Liberties Union v. Clapper.

With President Obama evaluating the NSA surevillance program including the Recommendations from President's NSA Surveillance Review Group and with the question of whether the NSA's surveillance extends to members of Congress being asked,  this newest report deserves to be read closely.  If there is a balance to be struck between security and liberty, the efficacy of the security measures are certainly relevant.