Here's listening to you, kid

The embassy closings and travel warnings issued by the U.S. State Department last week reignited debate over the covert surveillance programs brought to light by NSA whistleblower — or traitor, depending on your point of view — Edward Snowden. Not surprisingly, the closing of U.S. embassies and consulates in 16 countries sent supporters and opponents of blanket surveillance onto the Sunday talk show circuit. One question caught our eye. On NBC’s Meet the Press, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin asked: “Do we need to collect all the phone records of all the people living in America?” The only way to answer Durbin's question is to look at the data. To that end, says The Hill, the Illinois senator slipped a provision into a defense-spending bill that would, if it passes, provide a data-based look at the surveillance program’s effectiveness. Durbin wants to force the NSA to reveal how many American phone calls it intercepts, how much it costs to collect and store them and which terrorist plots, if any, all the record collection and storage have managed to prevent. The Senate considers Durbin’s data provision in September.