Sure, you can assume they're doing some things off the books, bending rules, abusing authority. Surely it happens everywhere. But they couldn't easily hide a ma

Sure, you can assume they're doing some things off the books, bending rules, abusing authority. Surely it happens everywhere. But they couldn't easily hide a massive program or fund it without a trace for very long. If you want to take heart about something, the worst mass surveillance program was uncovered by the NY Times. They published it and suffered no consequences. The same guy who exposed that program, exposed the US involvement in sabotaging the Iranian nuclear program. They dragged him to court a few times, but he walked away without any charge sticking. So, for one, it's really, really hard to keep something like secret for very long and our press is still free enough to do something about it. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/bush-lets-us-spy-on-callers-without-courts.html https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/bush-lets-us-spy...