By Any Means Possible: How Intelligence Agencies Have Gotten Their Data

Amid the many public discussions springing from the Edward Snowden documents, one has been about the perceived change in the NSA´s practices: it´s now hacking computers instead of tapping wires and listening to radio signals. Looked at narrowly--that is, in terms of only the NSA´s mission--that may be true. Looked at more broadly, in terms of how intelligence agencies have always behaved, this is no surprise at all. They´ve long used only two criteria when evaluating a proposed tactic: Does it work, and at what cost?