Yes, if the TSA had stopped a single terrorist, they'd be at least stating a number, if not the facts. Given they won't even give a ball park number is pretty good evidence it is a big fat zero like all the investigative journalism has found. Not like organizations like the TSA can keep a secret.
Why would they be stating the number? How can they know if they intimidated or prevented attacks by mere existence? Statistically, mere police patrol presence reduces crime, which is not directly related to detective work.
But, TSA is kind of parallel to surveillance, my question was about whether we could possible judge the success of that, and other intelligence in the most secretive of government operations.
