FWIW I don't believe that the NSA programs actually help keep us secure, similarly to how I don't believe the TSA or any part of the "Freedom" Act has helped us

FWIW I don't believe that the NSA programs actually help keep us secure, similarly to how I don't believe the TSA or any part of the "Freedom" Act has helped us significantly. I believe in 30 years, children will be reading about this "terrorist-scare" the same way we were taught about the "Red Scare" during the 50s. That said, it certainly is an easy security blanket for some people, to believe that "if we were monitoring everything, all those lives could have been saved". I just don't believe it, and for example, it didn't help stop the Boston bombings, even when that information was available. But I'm curious if other people feel otherwise, and if so, what are their reasons. Maybe I can be convinced otherwise.