A Necessary Evil: Global NSA Surveillance
NSA Headquarters, the center of global surveillance (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
In today's United States, there is
relentless debate over the National Security Agency’s (NSA) national and worldwide
surveillance program. In 2013 Edward Snowden, a former NSA employee, leaked
millions of documents that exposed the NSA for running programs to monitor
people around the world, both at home and abroad. Domestically, surveillance
constantly violates many American’s rights, and it has led to widespread distrust
of the government and opposition to the NSA. However, NSA surveillance is an
invaluable part of our national security. Although it feels intrusive, allowing
the NSA to perform its surveillance is crucial to safety and
security in our 21st Century United States.
Edward Snowden, a 30-year old computer
specialist and ex-CIA and NSA contractor, exposed the National Security Agency
in June 2013 for its global surveillance programs and procedures. Snowden
released millions of documents through various news agencies and quickly
reached world prominence as the biggest American intelligence leaker in
history. Weeks before Snowden began this monumental breach of American national
intelligence, he flew to Hong Kong and then to Moscow, Russia where he has
since received a one-year political asylum. Edward Snowden, the man who exposed the NSA
(Photo: NPR and the NSA)
The truth about the NSA’s global surveillance programs shocked the entire world. The NSA has been working to systematically influence encryption standards or insert backdoors in the code of commercial encryption software to enable it to access Internet users’ communications.[1] In addition, Snowden’s breach revealed new and continued persons of interest and prominent surveillance targets, such as foreign heads of state. The NSA was exposed for funding foreign spy organizations, such as the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Lastly, the NSA was found to be participating in a program called PRISM, a system used to infiltrate and gain access to the servers of major telecommunications networks such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. This vast spectrum of foreign and domestic surveillance by the NSA is the subject of much debate in our 21st Century society.
The invasive nature of the NSA’s surveillance activities is opposed by millions of Americans. Some have issues with spying on foreign heads of state, some do not like PRISM, but most Americans feel simply that they have rights to privacy, and the NSA is violating that privacy through its surveillance programs. Because of the public outrage, NSA Director General Keith Alexander was caught under much persecution by the media and entire nation. The entire framework of the National Security Agency was permanently damaged by the Snowden leaks.
The nation as a whole has condemned the NSA for its spying programs and surveillance on American soil. Despite this, some people view this mass surveillance from a different angle. Some Americans view surveillance as the only way for our country to "connect the dots" and stop potential threats against us before they occur. The NSA rationalizes the programs by saying that there is no other way to protect the country from outside or inside threats. The Snowden leaks created a nationwide debate over whether NSA surveillance is right or wrong, and how our national government should respond.
When the Snowden leaks were first released in Sumer 2013, the entire nation looked directly at the White House and President Barack Obama to respond promptly. The office was charged to look at all sides of the NSA programs released by Snowden and decide a new, less-flawed way to continue them. On January 17, 2014, President Obama spoke to the nation on NSA reform, and he directed that from now on, the government must obtain a court order for each phone number it wants to query in its database of records.[2] The President introduced measures that substantially restrict domestic surveillance by the NSA.
Today’s
NSA surveillance can be connected directly to the book, FEED, by M.T. Anderson. In the novel, many citizens have “feeds”
implanted in their brains to offer them vast ranges of media at any waking
moment. Through their feeds, the citizens in the novel were susceptible to
constant surveillance by the government around them and it was impossible to
have privacy. Today, we have almost unlimited access to an incredible spectrum
of media, and we experience domestic surveillance. Although not to the extent
of FEED, there are many negative
implications in a world where society’s media use is constantly monitored.
Thoughts of an American FEED reality (Photo: Wordpress)
The National Security Agency was exposed in Summer 2013 by Edward Snowden for millions of bits of information regarding a worldwide surveillance program. It became clear that the NSA uses programs and practices that consistently monitor everyone on Earth, New England college student and foreign head of state alike. These revelations started a national and international debate over individual rights to privacy and government interference in society. The White House responded by passing measures to limit the domestic capabilities of the NSA, but it is not completely outlawed.
Surveillance by the National Security Agency, despite its negative implications, is essential for our national security. Without some kind of overseeing, it would be very easy for attacks such as September 11 and the Boston Bombing to occur every day. The measures imposed by President Obama this year are a positive step in validating the individual rights of citizens, but some form of surveillance will always be present to stop potential threats and keep United States citizens safe.
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