Michael Heng

3/12/14 A2
Final Draft
After former NSA employee, Edward Snowden revealed top secret information about
how the NSA (National Security Agency) accesses private information for national security
(Pappalardo); people have been arguing whether it's ethical for the NSA to access the peoples
private information. Yes, it is ethical for the NSA to access private information for national
security. The NSA can prevent future terrorist attacks. They only spy on people that are
suspected of planning to carry out acts of terrorism. The NSA has already prevented terrorist
attacks in over 20 countries.
The NSA can prevent future terrorist attacks. The NSA has used their spying to prevent
terrorist attacks from taking place. U.S. officials say this tactic helped snare Khalid Ouazzani, a
naturalized U.S. citizen who the FBI claimed was going to blow up the New York Stock
Exchange. (Grier) Using the NSAs spying tactics they found a suspected terrorist. With the
help of the NSA the FBI took in Ouazzani, foiling his plans of terrorism. If Ouazzani had carried
out his plan, the lives of many people would be in danger.
The NSA only spies on on people that are suspected of terrorism. The NSAs spying has
limitations to protect our constitutional rights. Communications of U.S. citizens and lawful
permanent resident aliens cannot be examined without a warrant.(Pike) The NSA cant just spy
and access anyones private information without a warrant. This protects the U.S. Citizens
constitutional rights.
The NSA has prevented terrorist attacks in other countries. In the past the NSA has
helped foil plans of terrorist attacks in other countries. Overall, the two NSA Programs detailed
in leaks from ex-NSA contractor, Edward Snowden have been apart of stopping 50 planned
terror attacks in 20 countries. In the past the NSA has helped stop 50 terrorist attacks in 20
countries(Grier) if those attacks had carried, the well being of many people would have been in
danger. The NSA has already saved the lives of many people, they should be allowed to save
more in the future.
Some people might argue that the NSAs spying foils our constitutional rights. The
parliamentary intelligence services oversight committee puts strict guidelines for spying. There
must be integrity of motive. No hidden agendas. Using only minimum intrusion necessary.
Before approval is given there has to be consideration of likelihood of unintended
consequences. (Omand) Also, a person cannot be examined without a warrant. The NSA does
not foil our constitutional rights. There are many precautions before a person of interests is
examined by the NSA.
Is it ethical for the NSA to access private information? Yes it is ethical for the NSA to
access the private information of the people. The NSA has prevented many terrorists attacks in
many different countries including the U.S.. The NSA has protected our constitutional rights by
collecting the personal information of people who are suspected of terrorism and have a warrant
for doing so. The NSA has used their data collection to prevent future terrorists attacks and they
will prevent more as time of daily life goes on. Due to all these reasons it is safe to say that it is
ethical for the NSA to access private information for national security.