Beck 416: In more than two hundred cases where the government had successfully charged extremists with an act of terrorism since 9/11, the NSA's bulk surveillance program had contributed next to nothing of use, and 'traditional investigative methods, such as the use of informants, tips from local communities, and targeted intelligence operations' had been much more important. In some cases, the program was worse than useless. FBI field offices were inundated with tips about 'suspicous' phone numbers and email addresses, and agents became so frustrated with the amount of time they were wasting running those tips to ground that they told the NSA 'You're sending us garbage'"