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The Pros And Cons Of The National Security Agency

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Before you text that secret message that you think is only between you and the person you’re messaging. Is what you are saying really secret? The National Security Agency (NSA) is a government agency that monitors and watches phone calls, emails, and even faxes. This is continuously happening, is it a necessary agency for the protection of the people of the United States? No, in most aspects it is an agency that is just eavesdropping on U.S. citizens and don’t do anything. According to The Week, the NSA, a Defense Department agency, was created in 1952 by president Harry Truman. Its sole purpose is to spy and monitor everything that is going on. For example, “during the Cold War, agents tapped phones, planted bugs in gifts presented to diplomats, …show more content…

Two airplanes had crashed into the twin towers and claiming over 21,000 people’s lives. Could this tragic day been prevented? James Bamford, author of the shadow factor, the Ultra secret NSA from 9/11 the eavesdropping on America, depicts how this tragic event could have been prevented and how it effected the NSA. According to Bamford, the NSA was monitoring the Al-Qaeda, and found out they were plotting something against the U.S. The NSA had heard about the two that were going to commit this terrorist act and knew where they were located, but the NSA had failed to act. The NSA had information about the two men and what they were doing and planning, yet they still didn’t’ take action to prevent this terrorist act. They two men were located in California, which the NSA was able to locate since there surveillance of the Al-Qaeda in Yemen. Because of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the NSA was unable to tap into communications of people in the United States. After this tragic event, the United States had stepped up their national defense programs. Not only increasing the NSA’s power but their budget as well. This book explains how the NSA was able to detect the two terrorists, and how this led to breaking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Which only limited them to spying on enemies outside the country, but after 9/11 they had abandoned this policy and began spying within the United States. Bamford illustrates that after 9/11, the NSA had access to an infinite amount of data, and they used this access without obtaining any legal documentation from courts. This process, as Bamford termed it, “warrantless wiretapping”. Meaning the NSA would “wiretap” without consent from the government or anything, violating American laws and even American

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In a world of continuous technological advancements, as a substantial advantage, the USA PATRIOT Act modernizes the law to recognize present-day threats and attacks. Based on reports by the Justice Department, prior to the introduction of the USA PATRIOT Act, some laws within the United States failed to account for modern-day technological advancements (Department of Justice, 2017). As an example, under the USA PATRIOT Act, government or law enforcement agencies are permitted to utilize advanced technological means to locate or identify individuals, if necessary. Furthermore, with technological advancements allowing for long-distance planning and attacks, contributors to the Congressional Digest report that the USA PATRIOT Act allows some officials

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This act increased the federal powers imposed on the citizens in order to help their efforts towards investigating terrorists. These powers included telephone taps, internet taps, voice mail, grand jury information, immigration, money laundering, and crime. While these powers made it easier for the government to track down possible suspects of terrorism, it interfered with the people’s right to privacy. All the provisions under the Patriot Act can be used on the citizens with the approval of a court order. Furthermore, it interfered with the Fourth Amendment.

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Introduction Signed into law on 26 October 2001, the US Patriot Act was meant to strengthen security controls and provide Americans with an opportunity to act in the defense of their freedom. Caused by the September 11 terrorist attacks, this rule was intended to help Americans protect themselves from future similar strikes. However, since its enactment 16 years ago, this legislation has provided a veil with which impunity and civil rights violators can hide behind as they perpetrate crime in the name of national security. The act augmented safety and intelligence agencies' powers to acquire confidential information.

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NSA SPYING PROGRAMMES The United States of America has been ranked the best country with a strong security and defense capability and currently still holds the position. Over the years from independence, the U.S.A continue to increase in strengthen and power to self-defend and ability to intercept major issues around the world. From the World War II and other subsequence wars that followed, the whole world can testify to the superiority of the American Military and their efficiency in the field. This doesn’t just stop there; USA spends almost 20% of their budget on the defense and security of the nation.

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911 dramatically impacted societies broadly and law enforcement pointedly. According to the National Commission on Terrorists upon the United States (2004), it was clear after the September 11 terrorist attacks that intelligence sharing among all levels of law enforcement and the intelligence community was bankrupt (Carter & Carter, 2009). After the fact, there was a considerable investment of resources in many different government sectors for preparedness, response, and recovery from terrorist attacks. Shortly after the attack, President Bush signs the USA Patriot Act on October 2, 2001.

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The moment that the Twin Towers fell in New York, America became destined for change. In the wake of these attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was quickly passed through congress, and signed by then-president, George W. Bush. The act itself gives the FBI and other government agencies the ability to do and use certain methods, many of which are already used by other law enforcement organizations, to help prevent future terrorist attacks. Since then, this piece of legislation has been the center of much debate and controversy. But, there is ample reason to believe that the Patriot Act is needed and effective.

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A highly successful program of the Patriot Act in reducing the threat of homegrown terrorism is through the increased attack on fraudulent money laundering. By targeting money laundering, the primary source of funding for terrorist organizations is effectively reduced. This act also expanded other forms of surveillance as well, increasing the authorization for wiretaps and searches by requiring very little evidence to enable one. The act further relaxes pre-measures for the invasion of US residents with the “Sneak and Peak” provision which allows law enforcement to search a suspect’s home without immediately notifying them, potentially for months (“Is the USA Patriot Act Necessary”, 2005). The USA Patriot Act played a huge role in setting current standards for immigrant treatment, “Once it became statutory, the Act gave the legal authorities the unfettered right to detain foreigners for an unlimited length of time, based solely on distrust, without the detainees having due process of law” (Smith, C. S., & Hung, L., 2010, p. 32).

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According to the BBC, it has become known that the NSA was responsible in the massive surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans through the PRISM progra,, not just those who have suspected links to terrorism. Companies such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo routinely provided a back door for the NSA to tap into their servers and track online communications (Document 1). This article was released about two years after the leaks when the debates over the future of the PATRIOT Act started to intensify. The National Security Agency strong armed these firms into giving up clients’ private data. No one stood in their way because the NSA had the full backing of the blinded Congress.

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The recent revelations about the NSA surveillance programme have cause concern and outrage by citizens and politicians across the world. What has been missing, though, is any extended discussion of why the government wants the surveillance and on what basis is it authorised. For many commentators surveillance is wrong and it cannot be justified. Some commentators have argued that surveillance is intrinsic to the nature of government and its ability to deliver the public good.[1] Few, though have looked at the surveillance within a wider context to understand how it developed. A notable exception is the work by Steven Aftergood.

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These statistics not only make you question whether or not the Patriot Act is successfully completing its job, but it makes you wonder whether those suspected of regular crimes were rightfully convicted. Although the Patriot Act has played a

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In 2001 after the tragedy of 9/11 President George W. Bush passed the PATRIOT Act. The act is supposed to protect Americans from future terrorist attacks, but what it's actually doing is defying most principles this country was founded upon. Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act enables the FBI and the NSA to listen to the phone records of millions of Americans. Not only is the government invading the privacy of millions, but the way it's being done is illegal. The government is invading on the personal lives of people who have never been suspected of being a terrorist.

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The Amount of Power within Jacks Palms Humans can be extremely cruel to one and other at times. This book, The Lord of the Flies, was written in the time frame of the Holocaust by William Golding. The Holocaust was somewhat similar to this book.

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As cell phones become such a necessity in life, many Americans have become so afraid of using them due to the idea that their phones are constantly being monitored. People have developed such a strong belief that the Patriot Act is unconstitutional and illegal, only creating fear for so many Americans. An article provided states, “For years, the United States government has been collecting every record of every phone call you make — when you call, whom you call, how long the call lasted, and how often you make those calls.” When it comes to the Patriot Act, people are only focusing on the idea that they are being watched, and of course that only develops a deep fear of the government and overall protection. The government may be watching us, but they have created the idea that they are only monitoring us for our own

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1691 Words | 7 Pages

NSA hides the fact that they are monitoring on US citizens without the warrant as they find some connection between the person monitored and some illegal activity to justify their monitoring. At first, after the 9/11, President George W. Bush started a program of mass monitoring of US communication. He had started it without FISA Court’s knowledge and when the population find out about this Congress had to create and enact the FISA Amendment Act of 2008 and inside was the crucial Section 702 that, by law, validates mass monitoring over the last 7 years. These communication monitoring systems rely on these two statutes: FISA Amendment Act of 2008 (Section 702) and Patriot Act (Section 215).

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Details will be discussed further in the next argument. 3. The leaking of NSA information made terrorists informed of the counter terrorism measures of the United States of

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