I saw that NSA 9-11 PBS thing on Monday.
I think the biggest thing that has changed and secured America is the fact that NSA can eavesdrop in America.
You can thank Bush for this.
NSA and for that matter some members of the CIA new there were Al Qaeda operatives in the US before 9-11 and that they were planning something big, but the way the privacy laws worked before 9-11, they needed a court order with probable cause to wire tap, neither of these could happen without bringing the NSA down.
Both the congress and Senate knew that the NSA was trying to change the eavesdropping laws, but both branches turned them down.
Many posters on here believe that the NSA has too much power, but how many attacks in America or against American interests happened after 9-11, none.
Before 9-11 there was the first WTC attack, then the embassy bombing in Kenya, the USS Cole, and then the big one 9-11. All involving Al Qaeda.
The reduction has a lot to do with how the intelligence agencies have been integrated and how the restrictions on the NSA have been lessened. Congress better not change this.