NSA Spy Scandal - The Final Word?

Get Over It: America and Its Friends Spy on Each Other

"All history teaches us that today's allies are tomorrow's rivals." John le Carré 

With the French saying they are shocked—shocked!—to discover that America is spying on them, and the long-monitored German chancellor, Angela Merkel, reportedly in a state of outrage, this may be a good time to explain why it is considered so necessary. Why monitoring "foreign-leadership intentions" is a "hardy perennial" in U.S. espionage practice, as National Intelligence Director James Clapper put it during congressional hearings this week. And why most of what is done today, one way or another, is likely to go on. 

...the NSA may be reined in. But one way or another, the spying will go on.  (more)

This story was written by, Michael Hirsh, chief correspondent for National Journal. Alternate ends to the NSA story don't seem plausible. Think back to the Church Committee hearings and Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson... "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail." 

Stimson's views on the worth of cryptanalysis had changed by the time he became Secretary of War during World War II, before and during which he, and the entire US command structure, relied heavily on decrypted enemy communications. (wikipedia)