Terrorists were using encryption technology to evade detection long before Snowden and the Paris attacks

By Natasha Bertrand

A wave of coordinated terror attacks that killed at least 130 people in Paris last week have had experts grappling with how French intelligence could have missed an operation that was most likely months in the making.

In recent days, the current and former heads of the CIA have hinted that the attacks might have been prevented had efforts not been made in the past few years to undermine the national-security apparatus.

Others have cast doubt on those assertions, noting that terror groups have been working for years to avoid surveillance.

During an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday, CIA Director John Brennan denounced the recent “policy and legal efforts” to reign in government surveillance that have made it “much more challenging” for the intel community to uncover terrorists.

And on Wednesday, former acting head of the CIA Michael Morell placed blame for the rise of ISIS squarely on one man — Edward Snowden.

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