SO HOW COME NOBODY’S LOSING THEIR JOB FOR THE SNOWDEN AFFAIR? Jack Shafer:

According to Alexander, the Snowden breach ravages a program that has contributed to the “understanding and, in many cases, disruptions” of 50 terrorist plots, obviously implying that the unauthorized disclosures will hinder the future understandings and disruptions. While Snowden is the confessed thief of the data, he’s not the one who made the theft possible. Surely his superior, or his superior’s superior, or his superior’s superior’s superior, or somebody on the NSA organization chart designed a flawed system that was easily defeated by a junior contractor. Surely a large bag filled with heads will roll at the NSA for this grievous lapse, and Alexander will accept responsibility for his own shortcomings and step down from the NSA so the president can assign a more competent director.

Instead of asking Alexander for his resignation, This Week host George Stephanopoulos needled him with penetrating questions about Snowden’s heist, asking “why the alarm bells didn’t go off?” and “what’s to say this couldn’t happen again?”

Alexander had no concrete answer for how the alleged crown jewels of terrorist identification could have been stolen and were now on a world tour bound for South America. He cribbed his answer from every dairy farmer ever to lose a cow.

Accountability is for the little people. If there’s anything that’s been established since January of 2009, it’s that.