" Not one American has been found who has been demonstrably harmed by any NSA program."
Of course, this statement heavily relies on what you mean by "demonstrably" and "harm". What is the standard of proof you would require to demonstrate harm? As you say it, it sounds like one of those terms that you can forever pushback against and say "but X didn't demonstrate harm sufficiently".
The most likely harm that I would consider widespread would be the chilling effect. For example, Chris Hedges and others tried to sue the gov for the NDAA's chilling effect, but once they got to court it was thrown out because they had "no standing". So it's pretty obvious that you can't say that a court ruling on something demonstrates harm, because the courts themselves are part of the harm occurring.
As a matter of fact, I bet I could have a pretty good claim that the NSA program has harmed me. I am an Iraq combat vet with PTSD, and happened to be someone who has talking about the NSA doing this stuff since the early 2000's. At my last meeting with the VA, I specifically stated that I was concerned at the confidentiality of my talks due to their being entered in an electronic system that I suspected the NSA and other three-letters would have access to. Therefore I quit my PTSD treatment because I felt I could not trust the VA system or any claims of doctor-patient confidentiality. I actually asked the doc to make sure she typed that into the system so that in the future I could use it as evidence if the need ever arose. I'm doing fine now mostly of my own volition, but what I think about is how many other vets had the same gut feeling and kept their problems hidden and suffered greatly for it?
This is only one example that I think is pretty concrete.
Of course, this statement heavily relies on what you mean by "demonstrably" and "harm". What is the standard of proof you would require to demonstrate harm? As you say it, it sounds like one of those terms that you can forever pushback against and say "but X didn't demonstrate harm sufficiently".
The most likely harm that I would consider widespread would be the chilling effect. For example, Chris Hedges and others tried to sue the gov for the NDAA's chilling effect, but once they got to court it was thrown out because they had "no standing". So it's pretty obvious that you can't say that a court ruling on something demonstrates harm, because the courts themselves are part of the harm occurring.
As a matter of fact, I bet I could have a pretty good claim that the NSA program has harmed me. I am an Iraq combat vet with PTSD, and happened to be someone who has talking about the NSA doing this stuff since the early 2000's. At my last meeting with the VA, I specifically stated that I was concerned at the confidentiality of my talks due to their being entered in an electronic system that I suspected the NSA and other three-letters would have access to. Therefore I quit my PTSD treatment because I felt I could not trust the VA system or any claims of doctor-patient confidentiality. I actually asked the doc to make sure she typed that into the system so that in the future I could use it as evidence if the need ever arose. I'm doing fine now mostly of my own volition, but what I think about is how many other vets had the same gut feeling and kept their problems hidden and suffered greatly for it?
This is only one example that I think is pretty concrete.