To a certain degree I do. I believe - which is that I will operate under an assumption that rests entirely on (probably flawed) logic, not evidence - the NSA's

To a certain degree I do. I believe - which is that I will operate under an assumption that rests entirely on (probably flawed) logic, not evidence - the NSA's unspoken mission is not against average citizens, but rather to keep tabs on other parts of the US government. And perhaps keep tabs on the financial transactions of very wealthy people. We as readers of HN should not assume we have a monopoly of wisdom about subjects such as the Roman Empire. Certainly more than one US govt official has read a few books on the subject and decided a good bit of the Empire's instability was caused by rebellious legions and fickle praetorians. As a country we have been rather lucky in that our obvious political crises - coups, putsches, and rebellions - have been infrequent. Now maybe under the veneer things have been a little less tranquil - think the movie "8 Days In May" - but that's something not likely to be made public until after the fall of the US. To me the question is whether the NSA will become a fickle praetorian in its quest to thwart the rebellious legions.