I'd be interested to find out how many actually legitimate terrorist plots have been foiled because of NSA/government eavesdropping. I'd bet it's staggeringly low, if not 0. I'd put money on single digits, easily. It seems like the vast majority of good & concrete actionable intelligence found in these cases are the results of good old-fashioned police work. I mean, they have already caught these people (or, as in the case of San Bernadino, the suspects are dead) -- so now they just want what?... more evidence against them, links to other people/suspects, etc? It seems lazy and/or a lie that they couldn't gather this info with, y'know, investigative police technique.
If anything, they should be asking (at least in Europe) for more personnel to keep better track of possible terrorists, because that is what has failed here. Another problem is that some countries have cut budgets of deradicalization programs and local eyes and ears since the mid-2000's.
As we all know, the terrorist attacks are just a convenience for asking backdoors. Each opportunity is exploited.
