Silicon Valley tycoon Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, defended the National Security Agency’s controversial domestic surveillance on Tuesday, saying it was needed to protect the public from terrorism.

“It’s great. It’s essential,” said Ellison during an interview with CBS News. 

“President Obama thinks it’s essential. It’s essential if we want to minimize the kind of strikes that we just had in Boston,” he added, referencing the marathon bombing.

Ellison said the private sector had been gathering data about the public for much longer than the nation’s intelligence agencies and had amassed far more information.

“We’ve been collecting this information for so long, long before the NSA was collecting it,” he said. “American Express, Visa, all your credit card data, we have, and all your financial records. …”

Note: Ellison is the owner of most of the island of Lanai.

Photo: Larry Ellison. (Oracle_Photos_Screenshots)

—Chad Blair