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The revelations about secret National Security Agency programs, leaked by Edward Snowden earlier this month, have stirred great controversy, but this type of surveillance is not entirely new, according to journalist Shane Harris.

In his 2010 book, The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State, Harris traced the evolution of these surveillance programs in the U.S.

He says that as the digital age advanced, the NSA reached a crossroads and realized that analog tactics like phone tapping were quickly becoming obsolete: There was a whole new world of digital information to be accessed.

"They're realizing," says Harris, "if we can get into this 'digital network' ... [that] they would effectively be able to monitor global communications."

Because these communications were traveling through lines inside the United States, the U.S. was the central switching station for the global communications grid. The laws at the time, however, forbade much of that kind of intelligence gathering in the United States.

"9/11 changed all that," Harris tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

Harris is a reporter at Foreign Policy. He's also written about intelligence, surveillance and cybersecurity for the Washingtonian and National Journal.

It's a miracle, though we're not quite sure of the details yet.

A Vatican official confirms that a committee of theologians has approved a second miracle attributed to Pope John Paul II's posthumous intercession — a sine qua non for sainthood.

Italian media say a Costa Rican woman was cured of a severe brain injury after her family prayed to the memory of the late pope. The Vatican is set to release details in the next week or so.

The Telegraph reports that it occurred on the very day of John Paul's beatification, on May 1, 2011.

Another miracle attributed to the former pope was approved by the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 2011. It involved the healing of a French nun, who reportedly recovered from Parkinson's disease in 2005 after praying to the late John Paul. The Catholic Church maintains that there is no medical explanation for the nun's recovery.

According to The Associated Press:

"The case now goes to a commission of cardinals and then Pope Francis. John Paul's canonization is possible in autumn to coincide with the 35th anniversary of his election, though the official said Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to reveal details about the case that it may be too soon."

Face mask-clad Singaporeans enduring record-breaking smog got some more bad news from their government on Thursday: The pollution may last awhile.

The choking smog that blanketed the city-state earlier this week, generated by burning clear-cutting fires in Indonesia, has gone well beyond the "hazardous" level on the Pollutant Standards Index, hitting 371 on Wednesday before coming back down to about 250. The previous record was 226, reached in 1997.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at a news conference Thursday that it could "easily last several weeks and quite possibly longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra." He told residents to try to stay inside, adding, "We will get through this together."

As The Associated Press writes, while smog from Indonesia isn't unusual, hitting Singapore and Malaysia almost every year, "the severity of this week's conditions has strained diplomatic ties. Officials in Singapore say Jakarta must do more to halt fires on Sumatra island started by plantation owners and farmers to clear land cheaply."

The Independent says:

"The severity of this week's conditions threaten diplomatic ties between Singapore and Jakarta, with officials in the city state urging Indonesian authorities to do more to halt the fires on nearby Sumatra island started by plantation owners to clear land cheaply."

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking at how overdraft fees affect consumers in a detailed report released Tuesday.

One of the stunning finds: "Overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees accounted for 61 percent of total consumer deposit account service charges in 2011 among the banks in the CFPB report."

If you remember, the Federal Reserve passed a regulation in 2010 that required consumers to opt-in to these kinds of services. About 45 percent of heavy overdraft protection users ended up signing up for overdraft protection.

The message, however, that the CFPB seems to be sending today with this report is that overdraft protection creates more problems than it solves.

"Consumers need to be able to anticipate and avoid unnecessary fees on their checking accounts. But we are concerned that overdraft programs at some banks may be increasing consumer costs," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement. "What is often marketed as overdraft protection may actually be putting consumers at greater risk of harm."

Here are some other interesting tidbits from the report:

— Accounts that had at least one overdraft or non-sufficient funds fee in 2011, paid about $255 in annual fees for these services.

— Accountholders who were heavy overdrafters but who opted out of the service after the 2010 regulation went into effect saved on average more than $900 per year.

— The median overdraft fee at a large bank was $34.

— Consumers who opt in to these services were "more likely to end up with involuntary account closures." The CFPB reports that "at some banks in the study involuntary closure rates were more than 2.5 times higher for accounts that had opted in to debit and ATM overdraft coverage."