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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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