The fact remains that as more and more information about the programs is leaked to 'adversaries', the more pointless the program becomes. You wouldn't play hide

The fact remains that as more and more information about the programs is leaked to 'adversaries', the more pointless the program becomes. You wouldn't play hide and seek if everyone could see you, right? Or if anyone shouts "Marco, FOIA!" they have to respond "Polo, docs!" Most of the specifics here are still under wraps (who's being targeted, what specific patterns they search, etc) so the programs are still in pretty good shape. It's far too early to throw in the everyone-knows-everything-already towel. What's maddening is that the leaks on Capitol Hill are exactly the same, criminally, but are usually pre-filtered, pro-US and condoned by the Administration.