I agree with gillymore. I don't always (even usually!) agree with David Brooks, though he is on the mild side of conservative, all things said and done. Snowden was "exposing" aspects of a program that is meant to be proactive, or at least provide quick results if another such attack as 9/11 happens. Hopefully to prevent it. I suspect part of the confusion is that too many people don't understand just what "metadata" is. It isn't the content of the call, it is the stuff the phone company prints on every bill that goes out in the mail, to whom, and for how long. And it has long been understood that most of this information is not private and it isn't reasonable to expect it to be private. There is oversight of the program, and considering that the GOP and the Democrats have acknowledge the program and attest to briefings, and that a court oversees it, means it isn't so covert as is hinted at.

The ACLU has decided to sue. Sometimes the ACLU gets these things terribly wrong. Like when they won the case about the law regarding who and how a person is admitted to a mental hospital - their suit allowed the Regan administration to dismantle major mental health institutions and dump the occupants, in some cases literally on the street. I'm a supporter of the ACLU, but this one is a mistake, it seems they don't understand what metadata is either.

SRS