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Comment by scrumption | Hacker News Reader

Right, but what else is the NSA ostensibly carrying out all this domestic espionage for if not to preempt domestic terrorism (which by and large has been dominated by mass shootings in recent years, it's been a bit since we had e.g. a bombing), which by all accounts is at its highest point in recent memory?

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Yeah, I mean I'm with you, but again: the NSA is not charged with preventing domestic crimes. It's a foreign intelligence agency.

You two are talking past each other. Yes, the NSA is a foreign intelligence agency. But then why is it spying on citizens? Ostensibly to prevent bad things from happening. Yet bad things are happening, that could presumably be stopped with information gained from said spying. But no one is using the information that way. So why should we let them continue spying?

I think that sums it up.

I think there's another sliver to be added, though, because the NSA can still give the excuse that the answer to

> why is it spying on citizens

...is that it's doing that to prevent foreign attacks, not eg. mass shootings.

Furthermore, even if it were doing anything useful with its domestic spying, such as preventing domestic crime, obviously we'd all rather address plain ole' shootings, which take many more lives than mass shootings.

>but what else is the NSA ostensibly carrying out all this domestic espionage for if not to preempt domestic terrorism

Yeah... foreign terrorism only occurs when foreign entities stand at the border and throw things into our country. LMAO.

Is there a reason you're being so intentionally mean throughout this thread? Take a deep breath, maybe a quick walk around the block. Your points are being lost because your vitriol is so overpowering.

It's funny watching what is essentially the equivalent of the Yankees getting criticized for not scoring enough touchdowns this season by people who are dead serious and consider this topic of grave concern. If these people aren't even able to Google the NSA before venturing their opinion on something so complicated, then it seems unlikely just giving them the basic facts is actually going to do something. People should feel bad about this level of willful ignorance.

Hmmm. Well, to utilize your metaphor, maybe it's more like people asking the 1919 White Sox aren't scoring enough touchdowns.

On one hand, scoring touchdowns (in this metaphor, preventing domestic crime) isn't their charge.

But on the other, they are also engaged primarily in self-serving funny business instead of hitting home runs (ie, protecting people from foreign aggression and securing the telecommunications systems of the USA).

>they are also engaged primarily in self-serving funny business

Such as?

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