The money of citizens that is spent on intelligence today, instead, should be spent examining and investigating the records of public servants, both elected and unelected. Nothing malicious. But, rather than examining and investigating the records of citizens, instead, intel agencies and governments should be and are in fact duty bound to diligently investigate public servants and their activities with regard to citizens’ money.

Citizens pay for NSA, FBI, CIA et al to protect the citizens, which includes protecting the privacy of citizens, but not to protect the government, even when the government is their employer, and not to protect their fellow employees and contractors or any other entity or persons. It should be needless to say that any and all government employees must be citizens.  Citizens do not pay agencies and government to spy on citizens.  Citizens pay to know what their public servants are doing with citizens’ money and good will.

Can you blame them?  It is seldom wise to put a target on one’s forehead unless you control the game.  Do you really trust the government to control the whole game?