It has for me. When the Snowden revelations first came out, as an engineer, I was in awe of the NSA's capabilities. But slowly, the awe has reduced to "meh, t

It has for me. When the Snowden revelations first came out, as an engineer, I was in awe of the NSA's capabilities. But slowly, the awe has reduced to "meh, they're just another inept government agency" levels. If they were so capable, how does one explain the rise of groups like ISIS since 2003? It's hard to believe such a well trained well financed group can rise and take over vast territories without emails, IMs and mobile calls.