I would argue that even if these programs were effective in foiling some terrorist plots, that it's still not worth it. I mean, we could probably could prevent

I would argue that even if these programs were effective in foiling some terrorist plots, that it's still not worth it. I mean, we could probably could prevent some mass shootings if we put everyone with a history of serious mental illness in an institution for the rest of their lives but that wouldn't make it right. And perhaps the bigger risk to using the 'it prevented terorrist plots' argument is that it creates a convenient excuse for more surveillance and curtailing of rights. All that needs to happen is for a few more terorrist plots to slip through, then the argument will be, 'We need MORE power to stop these people' or, 'If you just allowed us to do this, this, and this, we could've prevented that'. Then long after a significant threat of Jihadist terrorist attack is gone, we'll still be dealing with a uber-powerful police state.