But the threat of one or all of these events is insufficient to guarantee vigilant oversight.
President Barack Obama has promised "appropriate reforms" to guarantee greater oversight of controversial US surveillance programmes.
US President Barack Obama has defended the series of programmes described in Mr Snowden's leaks, but has promised reforms to guarantee greater oversight.
Media captionPresident Barack Obama: "The American people need to have confidence in these programmes" President Barack Obama has promised "appropriate reforms" to guarantee greater oversight of controversial US surveillance programmes.
The official, Steven J. Spinner, then a senior member of the Energy Department's loan guarantee oversight office and a 2008 Obama fund-raiser, inquired frequently about the progress of the Solyndra loan, urging the White House budget office to move more quickly on approving it.
But equally, do we have the proper oversight to guarantee the liberties of free citizens?
News gathering takes time, energy, courage, people, humility, creativity and layers of editorial oversight to guarantee the authenticity of the final product.
Mr Miliband told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "I think it's right to take a step back and look at this. "We've got to look at 'Do our intelligence services have the tools they need?' but equally 'Do we have the proper oversight to guarantee the liberties of free citizens?' because, after all, one of the things we want to protect most of all here is our freedoms".
President Barack Obama has urged a series of reforms to US surveillance programmes in order to guarantee greater openness and oversight.
"We have prepared a series of oversight systems to guarantee food safety," he said.
He said that he might, but only if constitutional change and proper independent oversight were to guarantee that the elections would be open, free and fair.An unlikely heroIn a sign of changed times, Egypt's new, privately owned media rushed to question the rather dour and professorial international bureaucrat.
