Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer and former instructor for the U.S. State Department’s Anti-Terrorism Training Program explains why:

FACT 1:  [NY Times reporter James] Risen did not reveal how the domestic electronic surveillance was being conducted.  He may know specifically what  they are doing, but he did not and has not disclosed the methodology used.  What was disclosed is that the President was ignoring the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution and the FISA court.

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FACT 2:  Al Qaeda, according to its own training manual, was instructing its members in the early 1990s to be aware that the U.S. intelligence apparatus would try to listen in on their conversations and to take counter measures to avoid detection.  One of these measures was the use of code words to disguise the conversation.  Got it?  They knew we were listening 15 years ago.  Risen’s revelations only hurt the President, not the terrorists.

Get it? Got it? Good.