This is partly speculation, but from everything I've read, the NSA appears to take its regulatory compliance a lot more seriously than the contractors that serv

This is partly speculation, but from everything I've read, the NSA appears to take its regulatory compliance a lot more seriously than the contractors that serve it do. I'm not saying contractors are hives of abuse or anything, just that if there is abuse, it seems far more likely to happen there. I'd also say the more senior the position, government or not, the more likely they are to be able to get away with it. Most worrisome are the well-connected people who sit at the intersection of state and corporate power. For example, former intelligence officials who frequent the revolving door and take high-level executive positions at major contractors. These are people you wouldn't want to cross.