A worthy debate on leaks

[Commentary] Even as he condemned Edward Snowden's leaks about two government surveillance programs, President Obama said he welcomed the debate about whether post-9/11 efforts to detect terrorist plots have undermined Americans' privacy. That debate has raged since the Guardian and the Washington Post published material provided by Snowden, and two things are clear:

• The American public and many members of Congress were unaware of the scope of the government's electronic surveillance programs, which include a continuous and indiscriminate collection of the phone records of virtually every American, and extensive monitoring of foreigners' emails and social media accounts.
• Congress, the courts and the executive branch need to recalibrate the balance between liberty and security. The broad outlines of that new terrorism surveillance policy should be a matter of public record.