This is a valid point; and completely worth discussing. I was replying to someone that was saying something different, however.

In terms of lying to the public: I agree to a point. I think there are certain truths that can't be voiced for fear of enabling our adversaries. That being said, however, I think it was counter productive for our intelligence agencies to lie about the dragnet. It almost invited a Snowden like character and the inevitable public blowback wasn't worth it.