[baddox]

You seem to be confusing the NSA with any agency that does any intelligence gathering or any military action of any sort. Yes, "NSA" stands for "National Security Agency," but that doesn't mean that other agencies can't perform legitimate actions for national security.

[optimusclimb]

I see what you're saying. I think the three letter acronym doesn't matter so much (i.e. whether it's the NSA, CIA, or some other org) that carries out the mission - but I think given the sophistication of communications and technology these days - we'd be foolish not to have such an organization. To me the problem is that that particular org has shifted a lot of its resources and abilities to domestic surveillance - and what the article in question is discussing is just Utah symbolically objecting to it.

[vidarh]

It matters in the the NSA is the only agency authorised to carry out widespread signals intelligence, and the only one with the resources to do so at anything approaching that scale.

> is discussing is just Utah symbolically objecting to it.

It may just be symbolic, but sometimes symbols are important. If nothing else, if more and more parts of US society brands the NSA as un-American pariahs, it may make more insiders think twice about what they're doing (and about whistleblowing), may make it harder for Congress to keep supporting it, and may make their recruitment more difficult.