Maybe it seems like I'm nitpicking, but I think most of the attacks against the 54 number are strawmen. Here's the actual figures that were claimed (from [1]):

Maybe it seems like I'm nitpicking, but I think most of the attacks against the 54 number are strawmen. Here's the actual figures that were claimed (from [1]): Gen. Keith Alexander said these programs enabled the United States to disrupt 54 "events," 42 of which "involved disrupted plots." Of those 54: 12 involved cases of material support to terrorists; 50 lead to arrests or detentions; 25 occurred in Europe; 11 were in Asia; 5 were in Africa; 13 had a homeland nexus. Forty-one of the terrorist activities did not involve events in the United States, Alexander said. Alexander went on to say that in 53 of the 54 cases, data collected under Section 702 provided the initial tip to "unravel the threat stream." He said that almost half of terrorist reporting comes from Section 702, ... ... and the associated infographic: [2]. Your own link states that the NSA claimed 42 plots and 12 instances of material support. Senator Leahy's quote speaks more to both the media game of telephone than the NSA's claims and the fact that the figures from the Section 215 program (bulk phone metadata) were being conflated with the Section 702 program (PRISM). As a result, this article and a whole slew of other articles try to tie the 54 plots in with the Section 215 program, when right from the beginning General Alexander was stating that the overwhelming majority came from Section 702 collection. Draw what conclusion you may want from those numbers - three commissions have done so over the last year and concluded that PRISM was incredibly valuable[3], but the bulk phone records not so much[4][5] - but, that doesn't say much about the 54 number. [1] http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/27/19175466-nsa-chief-says-surveillance-programs-helped-foil-54-plots http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/27/19175466-nsa-chie... [2] http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/802269-untitled0001.html http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/802269-untitled0001... [3] http://www.pclob.gov/Library/702-Report-2.pdf http://www.pclob.gov/Library/702-Report-2.pdf [4] http://www.pclob.gov/library/215-Report_on_the_Telephone_Records_Program.pdf http://www.pclob.gov/library/215-Report_on_the_Telephone_Rec... [5] http://www.lawfareblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Final-Report-RG.pdf http://www.lawfareblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Final-...