The fact that the NSA collected cell-site data is a big deal. But so is the fact they admitted it.

Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-OR) strategy is working. Days after he asked whether the National Security Agency had ever collected geolocation information on US citizens, the agency's director, Gen. Keith Alexander, admitted that it had gathered data from cellular towers on a limited basis.

It wasn't an off-the-cuff disclosure or a slip of the tongue. The statement had been planned. Somebody within the government now seems to recognize that the longer it withholds the answer Sen. Wyden seeks, the worse off the NSA will be. Yes, it's significant that the NSA collected cell-site data, but it's arguably even more significant that we learned about it from the very agency that's now being scrutinized by the public. However opaque that institution is, something inside it is changing.