"This week, cellphone carriers publicly reported that US law enforcement made an astounding 1.3m demands for customer text messages . . . disclosure has sparked a flood of press coverage and consumer outrage . . ."
Not only is the NSA fully aware of how "ironic" its claims of protecting Americans' privacy rights are, but its brazen oblivion to its own transgressions against those rights only betrays its true position regarding their relevance. Less a component of the war on terror, the NSA now seems to be using its wiretapping behemoth to engage in a war on personal privacy. For the average American struggling to make sense of such a contradiction, assertions of "state secret privilage" might not prove as soothing a balm as the NSA keeps claiming they should be.
When an organization as powerful as the NSA can implement policies obviously contrary to constitutional directives with impunity and arrogant disregard of law—and do so right out in the open—don't be shocked when it brazenly gives the middle finger to any notion of suspicion or scrutiny. Unfortunately, for those average Americans, that war has probably been lost.
LSL - 071012/16:15