William Binney: We invented a system that basically would not only have detected the 9/11 operation before it occurred, but also all the other terrorist attacks in the world, before and after. But the problem was also that it was a system that would have uncovered all of the criminal activity of our government employees, and of our secret intelligence agencies, and also others in the world, too. It was something that would lay out all of the patterns of human activity. (link to rest of talk)

This short talk by Binney is well-worth perusing. Binney helped develop the programs he discusses and understands their implications better than anyone. His insights into the all-encompassing informational power of some NSA programs explain why we are in the most dangerous time in our nation’s history right now.