The agency leader told Congress that when it comes to spying they don't know best

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — Collection of bulk phone records by U.S. intelligence agencies is essential to preventing terrorist attacks and “wrong decisions” by Congress could curb this power, the head of the National Security Agency said.

“We need our nation to understand why we need these tools, and what those tools mean to civil liberties and privacy and what they mean to defending this country,” NSA Director General Keith Alexander said during a keynote speech at a security conference in Washington today.

Bulk phone records were used to determine if there was a threat to New York City in the aftermath of the April 15 bombing of the Boston Marathon, as well as to determine if there were terrorist plots against U.S. embassies abroad during the summer, Alexander said in an interview after his speech.

“Somebody who has a database that can look at the foreign and the domestic numbers can look at those and get the information back quickly can tell you where there’s a threat and where there’s not,” Alexander said. He declined to discuss details about the cases.

The NSA is facing a backlash from some lawmakers and privacy advocates over abuses in spy programs exposed by former government contractor Edward Snowden and in documents recently declassified by President Barack Obama’s administration.

NSA DEFENSE

Alexander pleaded for support of NSA programs during his speech at the conference, which was attended primarily by government and industry officials specializing in cybersecurity.

“We can’t do that without your help,” he said. “That’s my ask of you.”

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/25/nsa_warns_against_%E2%80%98wrong_decisions%E2%80%99_limiting_spying_newscred/
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