General Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency, told a public hearing of the House intelligence committee in Washington today that the programs were "critical" to the ability of the intelligence community to protect the US, and that two such programs revealed in the media over the past two weeks had "helped prevent more than 50 terrorist attacks in over 20 countries," with 10 of the plots directed towards the U.S.
Most of those prevention efforts, Alexander said, came from the NSA's monitoring of foreigners' internet communications under a program known as Prism. He added that they were "limited, focused and subject to rigorous oversight."
His comments came a day after President Obama gave he gave his most forceful defense of the NSA's surveillance activities to PBS's Charlie Rose,
As to where the American public stands on the issue, well that seems to vary depending on which pollster you trust most.
But there are definitely elements on both the political right and left who are angry about the revelations.
This Friday afternoon a rally in Tampa has been called to protest the snooping, though the groups sponsoring this event all are to left on the political spectrum.
