SNOOPING WITHOUT RESULTS

America's vast intelligence system can't catch the little things (Boston Marathon bombing) and it can't catch the big things (ISIS in Iraq), so why do we spend so much money on it?

Jihadist Gains in Iraq Blindside American Spies
BY Shane Harris
JUNE 12, 2014
FOREIGN POLICY

united States intelligence agencies were caught by surprise when fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) seized two major Iraqi cities this week and sent Iraqi defense forces fleeing, current and former U.S. officials said Thursday.

And it harkened back to another recent intelligence miscue, in February, when U.S. spy agencies failed to predict the Russian invasion of Crimea. Both events are likely to raise questions about whether the tens of billions of dollars spent every year on monitoring the world's hot spots is paying off -- and what else the spies might be missing.