> Well, if memory serves, for the most part haven't most terrorist attacks been coordinated over either completely open channels or over non-technical channels? If I remember correctly, the Bin Laden operations were orchestrated via sneakernet, the more recent attacks in France were orchestrated with check-out aisle cell phones.
We have no way of knowing. There hasn't been a repeat attack at the scale of 9/11 to date in the US, which either means that people aren't trying or the security services are very effective. Since terrorist organization have been encouraging crazy lone-wolf type people to commit random attacks, that suggests to me that the security services are effective.
All security/law enforcement operations are about managing risk. Criminals and other "opponents" find weaknesses quickly -- remember the early 2000s popularity of Nextel and Boost Mobile devices among drug dealers. Even something as ridiculous and expensive as TSA serves a function... getting contraband on an airplane is a riskier proposition now. You don't need 100% effectiveness -- in a 9/11 type scenario a 40% effective screening process would have likely discovered some conspirators.
IMO, attacking the law enforcement surveillance creep is the wrong approach. That's a symptom of a larger problem, which is this global instability kicked off by Bin Laden and his ilk. That's the disease, and the only way to address surveillance is to attack those political problems and get back to a more balanced system.