i heard an observation that came from a former inspector general at the nsa, joel brenner. that by withholding the existence of this metadata program, the government may have avoided or obtained a short-term tactical benefit in terms

i heard an observation that came from a former inspector general at the nsa, joel brenner. that by withholding the existence of this metadata program, the government may have avoided or obtained a short-term tactical benefit in terms of not tipping off terrorists. it missed an opportunity to secure a longer-term strategic goal of winning public support. that is important to the intelligence community and their activities. >> did you want to say more? >> you are a technology expert. you were brought on to help decode some of the slides. some of them are cryptic to say the least. some were amateurish. it will be interesting to see some of the slides. those thought bubbles, are they really part of an nsa slide? i want to pull up one slide. muscular. we should have that ready. >> it is the drying of the cloud. there is a smiley face in the middle. >> i want to say one quick thing. i have seen a lot of government powerpoint. most of them are not classified. one of the things that convinced me that these might be authentic is the crowded, weird graphic design. [laughter] >> here

i heard an observation that came from a former inspector general at the nsa, joel brenner. he said that by withholding the existence of this metadata program, the government may have avoided or obtained a short-term tactical benefit in terms of not tipping off terrorists. it missed an opportunity to secure a longer-term strategic goal of winning public support. that is important to the intelligence community and their activities. >> did you want to say more? >> you are a technology expert. you were brought on to help decode some of the slides. some of them are cryptic to say the least. some were amateurish. it will be interesting to see some of the slides. those thought bubbles, are they really part of an nsa slide? i want to pull up one slide. muscular. we should have that ready. >> it is the drying of the cloud. there is a smiley face in the middle. >> i want to say one quick thing. i have seen a lot of government powerpoint. most of them are not classified. one of the things that convinced me that these might be authentic is the crowded, weird graphic design. [laughter]