The NSA's activities are a creature created by Congress. When these practices were passed through legislation along with the rights restricting measures of the Patriot Act we lived in the cold shadows of 9/11. I always thought it odd that in the aftermath of 9/11 Bush claimed that our enemies despise us because of our freedoms, but the legislative response to the attacks was to expand the government's ability to enter further into our private lives. There was little concern then.

If we had suffered another similar devastating terror attack in the last few years, and it was discovered that the NSA had not been collecting information to the extent authorized by federal law, don't you think that would be a greater scandal than what's taking place today?