The NSA was too busy spying on your family to stop the Orlando gunman. But why aren't night clubs keeping tabs on people who walk in with rifles?
According to various sources, the gunman in Orlando's Saturday massacre, Omar Mateen, was being investigated by the FBI. (See Judge Napolitano's interview for more, here.) But, as was the case before 9/11, the FBI keeps such a long list of so many many people, that the list tells them nothing about who is a real threat. Meanwhile, we have been told countless times that the NSA should be able to spy on anyone it wishes in order to "keep us safe." Given that Mateen was already on an FBI threat list, was the NSA eavesdropping on Mateen? If not, why not? Was the NSA too busy spying on dirt-poor backwoods members of "militias" to bother keeping track on Mateen, who, by many accounts, was a man who spoke often of his sympathy for terrorists? It's becoming increasingly evident the NSA simply collects so much information on so many people and casts far too wide of a net. What the NSA does is great for blackmailing powerful people. It's less useful in actually catching terrorists.
We have also learned that Mateen worked for a taxpayer-funded "private" security agency that is under contract with numerous government agencies around the world including the CIA. The company often provides security for Federal buildings, and presumably has access to numerous federal installations. His co-workers believed he was unhinged.
Basically, it sounds just like another "success" story we've come to expect from the FBI and the US federal government in general. The Feds maintain huge lists of "suspects" but have no way of separating out the real threats from the people who just say things. The Feds insist they should be able to spy on everyone, but ignore crucial information. The Feds pay private security firms that hire people like Mateen.
