I&#x27;m very sorry to hear about the losses your friends and family have endured.  My comments below are not meant to dismiss those losses.<p>So, here are some questions to ask if you want to prevent fear from clouding your judgment of the security vs. freedom question:<p>If the authorities knew where they needed to raid already, why didn&#x27;t they raid there before the attacks?<p>On the other hand, if they have all of the surveillance we read about in the news and more, why weren&#x27;t the attacks prevented?  How will more of the same surveillance work any better than the massive amount already in place?<p>Finally, how do you trust the authorities claims now that their emergency techniques work, if you didn&#x27;t trust their techniques before?<p>Again, none of this is meant to belittle the losses sustained or the seriousness of the attacks.  But I believe that terrorism is a social and political problem first, a criminal problem second, and a surveillance problem least.  So the solutions need to be long-term social and political moves to counteract the economic and ideological conditions that breed terrorists.