That NSA has been discovered to have been monitoring civilians for suspicious activity. This discovery was largely due in part because of a man named Edward Snowden. Snowden is arguably the face of those against government spying programs. Formarily a CIA employee, Snowden exposed the previously confidential government programs that have been monitoring citizens activities. Snowden does not want to live in a world where “everything I say, everything I do, everyone I talk to, every expression of creativity and love or friendship is recorded.”
The reaction to the field being uncovered where, as Stanford Law says, not only explosive, but “prompted a national debate about civil liberties in an age of new technology that enables the government to both collect and store vast amounts of personal information about its citizens. The discussion is also surfacing in local communities where technology allows law enforcement to indiscriminately gather information on law-abiding citizens—information that is collected, kept, and shared with little to no oversight, or awareness by the general public.” This led to many people overlooking the benefits of the usage of these spy programs, and causing fear in the government monitoring them.
Despite the news of these programs because of Snowden, the public should not display outrage over the government monitoring its citizens due to the government’s good intentions behind the program and it’s clear evidence of preventing terrorist attacks. Finding a way to American lives should be celebrated, not slanted. Our government is attempting to save our lives and prevent attacks far before they begin. Our technology has allowed us to begin to navigate a path against the fight against terrorism, and this is a great thing.
One of these programs is called “PRISM.” PRISM is a code name a spying program the National Security Agency uses to collect internet data from companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple. As The Guardian states, The NSA can access material in a, “previously undisclosed program called Prism, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats.” The NSA can use these PRISM to find suspicious activity and target the user, thus ensuring they are being monitored and action can be taken if necessary.
A huge reason as to why I am a supporter of using surveillance program is the intent of these programs. They are meant to protect Americans. If the government can gather any information they need on citizens phones or electronics, then it logically makes sense that we allow them to do this- as it would be much easier for the NSA and other spy organizations to spot terrorist activity. The usage of these programs have been incredibly successful. In 2013, the NSA Director Keith Alexander stated that, “In recent years, these programs, together with other intelligence, have protected the U.S and our allies from terrorist threats across the globe to include helping prevent the potential terrorist events over 50 times since 9/11.” (ABC News) This means that in the PRISM program alone, over 50 planned terrorist attacks had been prevented simply by collecting mass data from companies. Hundreds, if not thousands of lives were saved- and these statistics date back to 2013. The amount of prevented attacks can only have grown since then.
Saving a person’s life, particularly when they are apart of your own country is a priority. After all, this is why we go into conflict, this is why we bomb other countries and hold strict foreign and defense policies to foreign nations. If the government has the program, the funds, the technology and the ability to execute a plan to prevent the loss of their citizens lives, then they must do it. Not executing a program when citizens lives are at risk would be shameful, and our government in putting its citizens first.
Opponents to surveillance, such as American Civil Liberties Union, believe the usage of programs such as PRISM is unconstitutional. The organization claimed, “electronic surveillance by the government in the United States is illegal.” (American Civil Liberties Union) In particular people point towards the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which states that it is, “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” (Constitution, Bill of Rights) It says unreasonable searches and seizures. Protecting the American people against terrorists and harm in general makes these searches absolutely reasonable. Lives are being saved, which allows us to seek after our natural rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In an article in USA Today, James Clapper, director of the Directorate of National Intelligence refuted claims that what the NSA has done is unconstitutional, saying
“We believe we have been lawful. What we do not do is spy on Americans or innocent civilians of any country.”
An important factor to note is that normal behaving citizens do not have to fear the government collecting their data. The NSA and US Government will only take action if suspicious activity occurs. Those who are normal citizens should not have anything to hide as they will not be researching suspicious activities or planning horrendous activities. These programs are designed to weave through mass amounts of data to find the suspicious activity. It is not intended the signal out well behaving citizens.
PRISM program is projected to cost 20 million per year. (Foreign Policy) It has been argued that the program is far too expensive, yet this argument is foolish, and an examination of our budget shows this. The Congressional Budget Office claims the 2018 budget is $4.091 trillion dollars. This means the PRISM program takes up 0.00000488878% of the overall budget. That is an insignificant amount, particularly when you take into consideration how large our military budget is (597 billion dollars.) This program saves lives and while twenty million dollars is expensive, it does show results and it does save American lives and prevent devastating and demoralizing attacks from occuring on the public and government. Refute and recognize the cost of it. Discuss how yes, the cost of collecting metadata is pricey, yet it is entirely worth it due to the prevention of attacks.
Perhaps the most obvious benefit to government spying is how it is a system that saves American lives. Protecting innocent civilian lives is a top priority for any government, and ever since 9/11, fighting the battle against both domestic and foreign terrorist has become ever more important. Any preventive measures to stop a terrorist attack makes it a worthwhile thing to do. American lives should not be lost when there is programs available to prevent even just some of these attacks. One example is that of Najibullah Zazi. He was an Islamic extremist living in Colorado who planned to bomb the New York City subway in 2009. was traced to al-Qaeda operatives in the Middle East. Yet, this plan was foiled due to the NSA discovering the plot from its spying programs. As the New York Times states, this attack was, “one of the most serious threats to the United States since 9/11.” (New York Times)
This is a great example of the success and necessity of the program. Hundreds of people easily could have had their lives lost if these programs were not in place. To argue that the programs and the overall spying by the government is not necessary is mind-blowing considering the horrendous events these programs have prevented. These programs are targeted towards people such as Zazi. They are meant to find the dangerous members of our nation before action is taken. This is a revolutionary program that should be celebrated for curtailing terrorism.
Mass data collections also have a benefit to fighting domestic terrorism. Domestic terrorism has become a huge issue with the sudden spike in school shootings and gun related violence in the country. The events at Los Vegas, Stoneman Douglas High School, Columbine, Sandy Hook, and at Pulse have raised concerns on how to curtail such horrific events from happening. The government monitoring and collect mass amounts of data is a way to prevent such horrendous attacks from happening. The NSA is able to look through text messages, search history, phone calls, emails and more and will be able to flag suspicious behavior and create a list of suspicious people. Having the government monitor these people living within our society protects Americans and protects any tragedies from happening. While the system may not be perfect, it does catch more people than if there were no spy programs at all- and that reassures me. I want our government to know who to watch and who to stop and when. These programs do that.
A concern of many Americans who are against spy programs is the feat of hackers hacking into the databases. If a vulnerability is created for one purpose, then there is no guarantee that it won’t be exploited by others for a different purpose. Americans believe it is a security threat to their data, as who is to stop hackers from getting this valuable information? As the Hackers News Database brings up, backdoors can be found no matter the company or government. However, what this argument fails to acknowledge is how unlikely this is to happen. The government is encrypted and protected that amateour terrorist groups would not be able to hack the advanced software.
The NSA spying programs are effective and necessary in this era of technology. We as citizens of the United States must recognize that the government is trying to protect us and is not trying to strip away our rights. This is a way to protect one of our natural rights: life. The ability of the government to prevent attacks on the public is great and should not be discredited for its actions. stopping terrorist attacks in the modern day has to include monitoring data, and it is crucial to continue to use these programs and to continue funding them.
In conclusion, any terrorist attack that is prevented is a good thing, thus why I believe the government should have unlimited power to spy and monitor its citizens. Protecting lives is more essential than protecting your private data.