Individual Privacy Vs. National Security

Individual Privacy vs. National Security

William J. Crabtree

ENG 121

Instructor: Jessica Hamman

July 02, 2012

First off let me just say that National Security is not just a bunch of government spy's out there to take your privacy away and put your information out there for everyone. National Security serves many purposes from emergency preparedness and management to keeping threats isolated. So as history has revealed before, the people of our nation cannot afford to be self-centered on their Individual Privacy and the fight against our government's way of protecting us.

If we just take a minute to weigh the outcome of letting the government monitor not take away our Individual Privacy for the good of National Security we would see that many disastrous events could have and can be prevented. On September 11, 2001, the United States was invaded for the first time since the War of 1812 also known as "America's second war of Independence". Terrorist's that had been living in America boarded and hijacked civilian airlines, leading to the deaths of many American's. By no means should we forfeit all Individual Privacy Rights but we should find a way to work with the government that protects us to better our National Security.

The terrorist acts of 9/11 forced the U.S Government to take action and create the USA Patriot Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. This act reduced the restrictions for U.S. agencies gathering information and intelligence within the United States. Many people argue that the government's ability to spy on us whenever deemed necessary is a violation of their Civil Rights. This type of intelligence and the capabilities to monitor people however has been around for a while, it is known as the ECHELON program. "The NSA inherited the ECHELON program from AFSA. This global spy network, known as UK-USA, was a controversial program created in agreement with Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia in 1948 during the early stage of the Cold War to intercept threatening or enemy intelligence communications using contemporary methods of surveillance. Today, ECHELON is able to monitor the entire global electronic spectrum: fax, email, telephone, telex, microwave, cable, and satellite systems anywhere in the world. It takes satellite pictures with all the accompanying extraordinary means to detect enemy buildup or infiltration." National Security Agency (2005)

This type of capability is seen by many as an infringement on our civil rights and individual privacy but has been proven effective and many like me see it necessary in fact, "ECHELON was originally designed to detect Cold War antagonists' positions through intelligence such as the infra-red photographs in 1962. However, ECHELON added an unwieldy domestic surveillance agency that targets suspect American citizens who are deemed possible threats to national security." National Security Agency (2005) Many people would argue that the ECHELON program violates the civil liberties of American citizens, but if we can protect ourselves from harm why wouldn't we. This is what the ECHELON program was trying to get across when they continued to progress and expand the program with the rationale that it is a necessary evil that ultimately protects the nation. National Security Agency (2005)

The Long Shadow of 9/11: America's Response to Terrorism states that "A deliberate rather than an urgency-driven approach to security