Hell, I might as well say it, I used to work for the NSA

[MineralMan]

23. So did I, except I worked AT the NSA while in the USAF.

I was a linguist/analyst. Also during the Vietnam War. At the time, the NSA's mission was to analyze intelligence from countries outside of the USA. That's still its stated mission, and the restrictions on it against obtaining intelligence on people in the US are still much the same as they were then. That was, and is, clearly stated.

Some think they no longer follow those restrictions. I can't say. Although I was offered a position working FOR the NSA when my enlistment was up, I decided against it and went in another direction.

Like you, my knowledge of the NSA is old and out-of-date, and I have no access to any more information today than anyone else does. However, reading the restrictions in the released briefing documents, I see they are much the same as they were then. The NSA's stated mission is foreign intelligence, just as it was then. Beyond that, I can't say. The technology has changed dramatically, to be sure. How the NSA is using that technology isn't something that has been fully revealed. We're only seeing the information used by that agency to brief people on what the NSA does, and most of it is not something new at all.

So, old experience may or may not be useful in looking at today's NSA. Neither you nor I have any way of knowing exactly what the NSA is doing today. We're no longer there.