The terrorist attacks in France have shed light on the threat of terrorist cells throughout the world. An escalated fear that small-scale attacks, like the ones in Paris and Boston, will become more commonplace. There have been calls on social media from the Islamic State for these sleeper cells to use whatever tools they have to go out and kill.
Terrorism has gone digital. Terrorists are communicating with each other via email, social media, and cell phone calls. Inspire, the English-language magazine published by al-Qaeda, featured an easily-Googled "Most Wanted Dead" list. With these calls, it brings up the question of the role the NSA plays in the United States to monitor suspected terrorists and stop attacks before they happen.
There have been calls from both Democrats and Republicans to curtail the NSA after Edward Snowden disclosed that the government agency was collecting large amounts of metadata on all Americans--suspected terrorists or not.
"All these disclosures out there from Snowden and others have allowed these terrorists to adjust their tactics to prevent this, from accessing information on them," Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) said. "And with more of the disclosures we, and more of these legislative efforts that we have to undermine these programs. The less intelligence we are going to gather, the less capable we are going to be at preventing one of these attacks from happening."
With the advancement of terrorism into the digital age, it brings up the question on what these programs, like the NSA and Guantanamo Bay, play in keeping the homeland and those abroad safe.