He wonders why this is covert when all smart terrorists know it already.<p>I'll play Devil's advocate and answer that. To the extent that the USA publicizes what it does, people in other countries around the world will get concerned and develop alternatives that are not subject to US jurisdiction. Alternatives developed for legitimate reasons by non-criminals then provide options for terrorists to use that are hard for US authorities to monitor.<p>Let me give a specific example. Around the world, terrorists are forced to use sites like Facebook to promote their views because that is where they will find the people that they want to convince. They take precautions, but they are still forced to use the tool, and it is still easy for them to slip up and get caught.<p>If, however, distrust of the USA had pushed the people that they want to convince to social networks based outside of the USA, then the exact same terrorists could use those networks in the exact same ways and it would be much harder for the US to capitalize on those inevitable small mistakes.