[rodgerd]

Given that they appear to have basically perfect ability to gather data, there's got to be some reason we keep having successful terrorist attacks.

[JabavuAdams]

SIGINT won't won't detect two people conspiring in a bug-free room.

[andrewchambers]

Because the serious terrorists avoid anything that may be snooped.

[rodgerd]

So it's a huge waste of money usable only against non-terrorists?

[AnimalMuppet]

No, it's useful against terrorists whose trade-craft is less than perfect. That's many of them.

[fit2rule]

Its only really useful against non-terrorists, but that doesn't mean its a waste of money: if it is used to make money.

So maybe its being used to make money - i.e. targetting non-terrorists (i.e. industrial espionage) - precisely because it is a huge waste of money. Wow, its almost like the whole thing was just a bad idea in the first place - its become self-serving.

[jacquesm]

That's a pretty good summary.