NSA data collection needs mending, not ending

[Commentary] Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) isn’t worried that, absent a Senate vote, key provisions of the Patriot Act are slated to sunset on May 31. The GOP Presidential hopeful told “Meet the Press” on May 17 that a federal appeals court found the data-gathering authorized under the Patriot Act’s Section 215 is unconstitutional -- “so it really ought to stop. I don’t want to replace it with another system. I really think we could get along with the Constitution just fine.” Sen Paul spoke to the same effect during a recent trip to San Francisco (CA). He even has threatened a filibuster, if needed, to make the Patriot Act’s data collection program go dark. That’s just crazy talk.

In his book, “The Great War of Our Times,” former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell addresses the “skyrocketing rise in the threat of small-scale attacks” abetted by emerging al Qaeda-inspired groups that are gaining a foothold in foreign lands. (Think al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.) One need look no further than the armed attackers stopped at the “draw Muhammad contest” in Garland (TX) to see the approach is working. This is absolutely the worst time to allow any mischief to undermine US intelligence. It’s a conceit among NSA critics that voters would be outraged if they only knew what the government was doing. But I think the American people know what intelligence officials are doing, and why.

[Debra Saunders is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist]