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In a meeting with telecommunications representatives on Wednesday, NSA head Keith Alexander asked for some help defending the agency against several months of reports detailing the extent of the agency's data collection programs. Those reports, based on leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, have "impacted that foundation of trust that industry has with NSA, and that the NSA has with the American people," he said, adding that the leaks could hurt his initiative to start even more information sharing between private companies and U.S. intelligence.

Of course, there's a pretty big reason the Snowden leaks have "impacted that foundation of trust:" they revealed the extent of U.S. intelligence's access to daily communications. And while Alexander has often defended the programs against criticism by arguing that the agency is only interested in a much smaller amount of data than it's capable of collecting, the leaks have also revealed substantial oversight issues in ensuring that the agency does what it says it does. That's not to mention the so-called LOVENIT, otherwise known as the nickname for intentional instances of spies spying on their loved ones.