Protection of our Patriotism Protecting and censoring secretive and important documents is a crucial part of the United States’ national security. Without the censorship and protection of these highly secretive and classified documents, our weapons systems, troop locations, citizens, and server information could all be compromised. This would have a catastrophic affect on our country in future wars and in defense of our nation. Although the First Amendment states that the government does not have the right to censor certain material, the Patriot Act signed by President Bush permits the government to limited censorship and intelligence operations on the general public when national security is jeopardized. The U.S Freedom of Information …show more content…
The government must safeguard the information these programs contain in order to keep the data from being accessed on websites such as WikiLeaks. National Security depends on the NSA and when their intelligence gathering operations are jeopardized, the security of millions of Americans is immediately compromised. Information released by BusinessInsider reveals that “[f]ive years into Obama’s presidency, government documents regarding the NSA were censored a record 98 percent of the time, as the administration cites the reason being national security” (Gillum par.17). This leads us to believe that the government is trying to repair the damage done by Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks. “Edward Snowden said he had no intention of taking military secrets, but statistics from the NSA reveal that he may have taken up to 31,000 military documents, and a whopping 1.7 million documents outlying our security programs in total.”(Kelly par.5) These facts indicate that his true intentions were criminal and that he was trying to harm the nation and explain why he has been charged under the United States Espionage Act, and faces 30 years in prison. Releasing these documents to countries such as Russia and China, as Snowden has done, gives “ [other countries] a road map of what we know…”(Kelley par.28). Although freedom of information advocates such as Senator Rand Paul praise the releasing of these classified documents, facts and evidence
The National Security Agency (NSA) has been an information gathering arm of the Executive branch since the Cold War and continues to be an essential part of ensuring the security of the United States. The public issue that involves the NSA is the spying of U.S citizens which can be seen as a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This was revealed to the public by the whistleblower Edward Snowden who released classified documents of activities that the NSA had been conducting in conjuncture with telecommunication companies, which angered many U.S citizens and received media coverage with a call for the U.S Government to restrict the NSA’s activities or at least for there to be Congressional oversight. This debate revolves around how much the NSA’s surveillance activities are actually used for national security as well as the constitutionality of the NSA’s surveillance. This all began after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 when there was a call for the attacks to never happen again and the adoption of the Patriot Act in that same year which increased the power of the NSA.
Many of the NSA’s goals have been completely contradicted by the leaked files. Their first goal, to protect privacy rights, was a complete joke. The Fourth amendment states that there should be no unreasonable searches or seizures. Collecting people’s metadata that isn’t public violates this right, not achieving their first goal. Their second goal, protecting vital networks, is also ambiguous. Since the NSA uses the zero day exploits, and since the companies they get the exploits from sell them, The NSA is letting the hacks be used. Another problem with this statement is that it says “vital networks”. How would US citizens know what the NSA considers vital. Were Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state’s emails not vital enough to protect? There
This web site http://www.wnyc.org/ talks about how the NSA collects and processes information from around the world to gain knowledge on foreign intelligence/activities as well to improve counterintelligence systems and the extent of what the organization can do. That basically means the NSA looks for threats and protects the U.S. from spies, but what Americans fail to realize that an agency that spies on other countries has the ability to spy on the United states as well, and to use the information against them. Of course, the counterargument is that this information will only be used against you if you are “doing something wrong,” but what is stopping the government from using this information to further potential projects to or just to suit their needs. Ergo, our information is not being collected to protect the United States, it is simply a way to undermine our constitutional rights and make us slaves to the government. It is simply illogical to overlook such actions as american citizens do today. And during the topic of “End The NSA?”, on MSNBC news, a congress woman was silenced by another to talk about the “Breaking news” of Justin Bieber getting arrested. This collection of information could be shared to change the views
In May of 2013 Edward Snowden leaked NSA documents revealing that the organization had been, warrantlessly spying on U.S. citizens, via the internet. (Britannica) The information leaked showed that the NSA had been tapping phones and monitoring citizen’s text messages, emails and social media. (NPR) Snowden has said that he brought these documents to light, not to discredit the government’s method, but to expose it’s methods. Snowden wanted to allow the people of the United States to decide for themselves. (Britannica)
In June 2013, Edward Snowden leaked secret files on the PRISM Program, a shady program millions of American never even knew existed. Four years ago, Snowden released numerous files regarding the NSA’s PRISM Program that only a handful of people knew about. Why it is an important issue you may ask, well honestly you’re being watched by our ‘beloved government’ while we live out our private lives. This PRISM program should be ended because it invades privacy, violates the constitution, and weakens the trust we put in our government.
Not only do they invade Americans’ privacy, but they also target other countries such as Germany and China. German included that over a dozen bills have been introduced in congress to narrow the public surveillance authorities and increase transparency regarding continuing programs. Therefore, it’s important to understand that legal actions are being taken, which illustrates officials’ consensus with Snowden and the misconducts shown through his leaks. Edward Snowden informed the nation on illicit activity within the government, exemplifying his epithet as whistleblower. From the point of view of people in China or Germany, he would easily be considered a whistleblower as well.
On May 20th, 2013, one man singlehandedly committed one of the most controversial actions in the United States government’s history. He released over ten thousand classified documents regarding the CIA, NSA, and other branches of government intelligence. This man’s name is Edward Joseph Snowden and he built quite the resume for himself, not that he will need it now. Before leaking thousands of classified documents, Snowden used to be an employee for the CIA. It wasn’t until he got higher up in the rankings with the CIA when he starting seeing what some of these files contained. After being appalled by what he saw, Snowden took matters into his own hands and let the public see exactly what he was seeing. To understand more of what Snowden did, we have to go back before he decided to commit his crime.
In 2013, Edward Snowden leaked thousands of classified National Security Agency documents. These documents detailed the systematic collection, analysis, and dissemination of the internet and phone records of ordinary United States citizens. The NSA has stated that this is only “to combat terrorism (Verble 14). If such a statement
The information Snowden leaked goes beyond your average Facebook or Yahoo phishing hack from a curious hacker behind his computer in his mom and dad’s basement. In the 2013 scandal, Snowden reveal that the NSA was collecting “the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans” (BBC News, 2014, para. 1). Additionally, BBC News (2014) reports that “the NSA tapped directly into the servers of nine internet firms, including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, to track online communication in a surveillance programme known as Prism” (para. 3). According to Dreyfuss, B. and Dreyfuss, E. (2013), the NSA’s program Prism stands for the “Planning Tool for Resource Integration, Synchronization, and Management” (para. 2). Not only does Prism collect data from the U.S., it also collects data internationally. Furthermore, Dreyfuss, B. and Dreyfuss, E. (2013) report that Snowden provides examples of the kind of data that was being collected such as, ‘“e-mail, chat, videos, photos, stored data, VoIP, file transfers, video conferencing, notifications of target activity...”’ (para. 17). Essentially, this data and metadata were being analyzed by the NSA and other government agencies for tracking and security purposes. Metadata, according to Pfleeger, C., Pfleeger, S., and Margulies (2015), is data tracking that “can occur with data the user or owner does not even know [exists]” (p. 529). This is exactly what Snowden believed needed to be shared with the world, or the users and
Place yourself in the safety and comfort of your home, under the belief that “everyone has the right to the use and enjoyment of his property” (Department of International Law), searching, emailing, and talking about things that may be frowned upon by others. Now imagine the raw feelings of fear and deception that would wash over you upon seeing Edward Snowden’s statement on how “the U.S. government is destroying privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they 're secretly building.” You may initially feel betrayed, but Obama formally announced that the NSA acts solely in the name of safety right? Have we begun to sacrifice the freedom and
In this time of our generation privacy is important for anyone and everyone. In an article from CNN News I've found information about how Wikileaks works and what they work towards to expose. It states that, “ April 24, 2011 - Nearly 800 classified U.S. military documents obtained by WikiLeaks reveal details about the alleged
Censorship laws are also put into place to protect the nation against leaked confidential information. In recent years people such as Edward Snowden and U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning, have been arrested by authorities on the impression that these individuals were responsible for supplying WikiLeaks- a popular website founded by Julian Assange- thousands of classified United States documentary. These leaks brought upon by Manning and Snowden, have caused global uproar and exposed a plethora of cases in the U.S. Making both men traitors to the nation. Government officials who may leak private, classified documentation, regardless of the cause or reason, are legally inclined to consequence and prosecution for breaking their sworn oaths of secrecy. Any individual soliciting or publishing leaked information is inclined to punishment. ("Censorship and Freedom").
The United States of America is one of the many democracies around the world. Being a superpower, the United States has a lot of influence on nations worldwide; furthermore, all governments need to keep certain documents out the hands of people who could potentially mutilate the government and what it stands for. For example, during the Michael Brown trial, authorities televised the shooting which initiated complete anarchy throughout one small city in Missouri; imagine what a leaked classified document could do to an entire nation? Potentially cause violent protests in many major cities such as New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, or possibly in the heart of our nation, Washington D.C. One man by the name of Edward Snowed, who was at one time an Intelligence Contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency, released classified information because he believes the people have the right to know what kind of
The government has a responsibility to protect its citizens from terrorism. Since 9/11, this threat has been constantly growing and the government has taken steps to respond to this threat. The first of these steps was to increase resources dedicated to identify and prosecute known and suspect terrorists and would be terrorists to try and gain more information about possible attacks, and serve justice to those guilty of terrorism. The next step was to restructure existing anti-terror organizations (such as the FBI) and to develop new tools, mostly in the form of legislation, to help combat this growing threat. However, while implementing these measures, the government also made efforts to protect the rights and privacy of Americans (https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2008/September/08-nsd-807.html : Justice Department, 2008).
When it comes to the NSA time after time we have heard, “I'm not doing anything wrong, so why should I care? If you're doing nothing wrong, then you've got nothing to hide!” However the definition of wrong can change very quickly in the US. The personal data the NSA collects is run by many different organizations. It isn’t impossible that these organizations could sell your data for personal profit. The US has even admitted to sharing your information with the British intelligence. (Buren) The NSA’s organization had been kept secret for over ten years, we don’t know what else the US is hiding from their citizens. They could be sharing private information with other countries or people in the US but their citizens would never know because of their extremely secure organization. An organization that is more secure than our computers and phones. If you have nothing to hide don’t lock your doors, close your windows, or put a code on your phone. Now how will you sleep at