Eleven per cent of these monitored phone traces achieved the agency's lawful typical for "moderately articulable suspicion" (RAS). Regarding the necessity of these NSA programs, Alexander stated on June 27, 2013, that the NSA's bulk phone and Internet intercepts experienced been instrumental in avoiding fifty four terrorist "functions", such as 13 in the US, and in all but 1 of these cases had offered the first tip to "unravel the menace stream".