It's secret because of OPSEC, the same reason that essentially everything else an intelligence agency does is secret. Does the public go down and tell the Admi

It's secret because of OPSEC, the same reason that essentially everything else an intelligence agency does is secret. Does the public go down and tell the Admirals how to staff a warship? Or what controls to use when deciding to launch weapons? Those are life and death decisions where the military essentially handles its own oversight with Congress and government civil servants involved at the higher levels to handle public interest in accountability and oversight. Yet I don't see the public up in arms about that. Now, if the people say they don't like Prism and don't want it then the NSA should gut it; that's the right of the people to decide. But I wish we wouldn't be so quick to jump to the idea that the public must personally audit and review all such government programs as a rule, because as far as I can tell from the seats I've sat in the public has never actually believed that in general at all, and are normally quite content to allow their Congressmen and our shared values as citizens (for those actually doing the work) to provide that oversight.