On September 17th, 1984 President Reagan signed into law a national security decision directive, NSDD-145, titled “National Policy on Telecommunications and Automated Information System Security”. Even at that time, the government officials understood that computers were susceptible to interception, unauthorized electronic access, and related form of technical espionage and exploitation. It was noted, that hostile agencies were “extensively” hacking into computers, and that terrorist groups and criminal enterprises had the ability to do the same. The original language in the directive placed the National Security Agency (NSA) in charge of the security of all computers and networks, and, for many civil liberations in Congress that went too far. The directive also created a national Telecommunication and Information Systems Manager “to consider all technical matters” as well as develop procedures for implementing the policy. The NSA director was to become that Manager.
Congress had a substantial issue with that because NSA was forbidden from collecting any data on American citizens, and by charter, its mission was to surveil foreigners. The President’s directive was revised, denying the NSA the National Manager role. It was not until 1987 for Congress to pass a bill, assigning the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST), under the Department of Commerce, responsibility for developing standards and guidelines for the security of Federal computer systems, drawing upon technical
On the day of September 11, 2001, the United States faced one of the most massive terrorist attacks in history, and responded with immediate action. After the attack on the Twin Towers, President George W. Bush passed the Patriot Act, which gave the government more opportunities to pursue terrorists through the use of technology, such as computer-enabled device-tracking systems (“The USA Patriot…”). President Bush stated, “This legislation is essential not only to pursuing and punishing terrorists, but also preventing more atrocities in the hands of the evil ones. This government will enforce this law with all the urgency of a nation at war” (“President Bush…” 4). In America, at this time, many were traumatized by the loss of fellow Americans, and were counting on the government to reassure their safety. If Bush had not intensified cybersecurity, there is a chance that another massive terror attack could have taken place and put the lives of men, women, and children in jeopardy. Bush claims that America has “seen the horrors terrorists can inflict” and that the country “may never know what horrors our country was spared by the diligent and determined work of our police forces, the FBI, ATF agents, federal marshals, Custom officers, Secret Service, intelligence professionals and local law enforcement
The Internet was first used in the nineteen sixties by a small group of technology professionals. Since then the internet has become an essential part of today’s world, from communicating through texts and emails to banking, studying, and shopping, the internet has touched every aspect of our lives. With the growing use of the internet, protecting important information has become a must. While some believe they have the right to privacy, and feel that the government should not be at the center of their lives. Others feel that the Internet has evolved into a weapon for our enemies, and believe the government must take action by proactively
Over the last several years, cyber attacks have been continually rising. This is in response to emerging threats from rogue nations and terrorist groups. They are increasing their attacks on government, military and civilian installations. According to James Clapper (the Director of National Intelligence) these threats have become so severe. It is surpassing terrorism as the greatest challenge facing the nation. In response, the National Security Agency (NSA) began conducting surveillance on those who are involved in these activities and others which are threat to US national security interests. This program became so broad; it started continually collecting phone records and emails on ordinary Americans. This angered many, who felt that the US was acting in a way that circumvented established legal guidelines and procedures. To fully understand what is taking place requires focusing on the event, the government 's response and the ways it did / did not meet our national security goals. Together, these different elements will illustrate what occurred and the lasting impacts on everyone. (Greenwald 2014)
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 was a necessary measure signed by President Jimmy Carter in an effort to stop the CIA, FBI, NSA, and other executive powers from conducting warrantless wiretaps of domestic groups for so-called national security purposes. This was necessary because findings by the Church Committee in the early 1970s suggested that warrantless wiretapping had been going on for quite some time by these government entities and was exacerbated by President Nixon and the Watergate scandal. This bill not only set a future precedent for how surveillance should be conducted, but also attempted to set a standard for what “good” and “bad” surveillance were defined as. FISA did not face any substantial challenges
National Security Agency (NSA) regulations and tactics’ is an invasion of privacy, an infringement on the Constitutional Amendments, and fails to keep the private or confidential data of Americans safe from hackers.
Federal supervision of electronics has been prevalent since the 60's, and has become increasingly intrusive with laws such as the ECPA and USA PATRIOT Acts. These laws authorized the legal surveillance of foreigners, and Americans abroad. However, with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act requiring communication companies to provide backdoors for government use, agencies such as the National Security Agency have abused their powers in secrecy. More recently, Edward J. Snowden released NSA files that revealed the agency to illicitly engage in unwarranted surveillance of Americans both abroad and at home. (Introduction to Domestic Surveillance: Current Controversies)
The NSA is an unconstitutional Federal government agency established by a failed president. In 1952, the worst president in U.S. History, President Truman, established the National Security Agency (NSA). Truman is known for committing the worst crime against humanity by using a nuclear bomb on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, as well as for losing China and North Korea. For a president that is known for his poor performance on foreign policy, Truman establishes the NSA to safeguard American interests from foreign and domestic threat to American National Security.
Armed Forces Security Agency established under the authority of the Department of Defense on May 20, 1949. National Security Agency was established by the executive order under President Harry S. Truman. Not until 1957 NSA confirmed by the federal government. “The NSA is regulated by federal law, the executive branch, the Constitution, and the Department of Defense.” “An oversight procedure is in place to guarantee NSA compliance with various rules and regulations.” ("National Security Agency").
As if it were not enough with all of these new security acts and suppositions that the government needed to do more to keep us safe. In late December 2010, the New York Times article revealed that President Obama and also his predecessor George W. Bush, had secretly authorized and approved the National Security Agency (NSA) having access to wiretap domestic phone calls and emails without obtaining legally required warrants. Through the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) administrative institutions were permitted to wiretap on an emergency basis and apply for warrants without the necessary legal authorization, the administration thought that FISA was too monotonous and cumbersome pertaining to urgent issues of national security.
The NSA was created on November 4, 1952, by President Harry Truman and was held responsible for collecting, processing, and distributing intelligence information from foreign electronic signals. The NSA contributed to the Nation 's work in breaking German and Japanese codes during WWII. The information collected was to be used for national foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes and to support military operations.
The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence organization for the United States that was established in 1972. The NSA is accountable for collecting, handling information regarding foreign, counterintelligence, and global surveillance. After condemning the Patriot Act, Obama renewed the Patriot Act signing a four-year contract. This was done in order to protect the United States from possible terrorist attacks. This allowed the NSA to legally monitor and collect “metadata”. Metadata is defined as data that provides one information about other data. The metadata that was collected by the NSA was telephone and internet traffic; however, the NSA was unable to listen or read their surveillances. If the NSA finds anything alerting, evidence
Digital privacy concerns, which have been a major issue in our country since 2001, increasingly violate our basic human rights as global citizens. The growing amount of government surveillance has manifested in the enactment of acts such as SOPA and CISPA. Although their intent on stopping digital piracy and attacks were clear, both were immediately met with harsh criticism; they allowed big corporations to violate our privacy rights by sharing our personal information with both other companies and the government. Our President, although publicly expressing his acknowledgement of the issue, failed to discuss an array of other pressing dilemmas regulated by the recently exposed National Security Agency (NSA), especially those involving
At the end of Bush 's term in 2008, Congress had enacted laws that not only retrospectively legalized these programs, but also prepared the way for NSA surveillance to grow unchecked. Rather than restrain the agency, President Obama oversaw the expansion of its operations
The attacks of September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center triggered the passing of the USA Patriot Act “to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes."1 It passed quickly and with little debate. Soon, encryption of information became a topic to address and efforts took place to allow the government backdoor access to anything encrypted by products developed within the United States. This generated much controversy and was opposed by many organizations. It did not take long before the supporters of these encryption bills backed down.
In 1997 the National Security Agency (NSA) tested the Pentagon’s cyber security in an exercise named “Eligible Receiver”. Within two days of the exercise, the NSA team had penetrated the classified command network and was in complete control of network. Two years later, the United States Air Force experienced a computer breach in which huge amounts of data were being exfiltrated from research files located on airbases. “Gigantic amounts of data were being shipped out from a lot of computers in the Defense Network and from many data systems in the national nuclear laboratories of the Energy Department.” (Clarke, p. 111) File case named “Moonlight Maze”, by the FBI day-lighted two important aspects of information security. Computer specialist