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> The harder argument is that they're not doing it in our best interest.

I disagree. I think they absolutely believe they are doing what is best for the country, but without actual accountability and meaningful outside oversight and input, I would say it is far more likely they have become myopically focused. That they are unable to accurately judge or weigh the effects of persistent surveillance against one’s own citizens and how that negatively impacts a free and open democracy and a government that feels accountable to its citizens, vs their own very skewed perspective of looking at nothing but “threats” and thinking about nothing but threats, and planning for nothing but threats. The “everything is a nail to a hammer” saying comes to mind.