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Alfredo Acero

Ms. Angulo

AP English 11 Period 6

8 December 2016

NSA: Godsend or Worst Nightmare

Imagine a world where everyone is watched under big brother. A place where there is

no freedom of privacy and to speak out is to denounce one self. This is the possible future we

might be headed towards if the NSA continues its operations in spying on US citizens. The NSA

is a government agency that focuses on counter-terrorism operations, mostly through collecting

information. Even though the NSA helps stop terrorism in domestic soil, the reality of the

situation is anything but helpful. The NSA collect information, via internet, in order to stop

possible terror attacks on US soil, however, the information that they collect is from US citizens;

breaking the fourth amendment in the name of protection thereby the NSA is an unlawful agency

that needs to stop its operations.

Since the creation of the internet the privacy of anybodies life is more susceptible to

becoming public to anybody. Today in our society our own government has betrayed our

constitutional rights in order to protect us. The NSA is a government agency that deals with

counter terrorism through counterintelligence. During the early 2000s the Patriot Act was passed

after the 9/11 attacks. This allows the NSA to legally break the the fourth amendment, which is

the right to privacy, of every single citizen of the United States. With the Patriot Act in effect the

NSA can mark any citizen as a threat if any incriminating is found in rather personal phone

data or internet data. News reports in December 2005 first revealed that the National Security

Agency has been intercepting American's phone calls and internet communications (Cohn). The
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NSA constantly collect any data on every citizen of the US through complicated computer

algorithms that sort possible threats. Even though the NSA is clearly breaking US laws the US

government continues to support them by supplying mass amounts of subsidies that cost the US

billions of dollars. Most citizens are unaware that the government is spying on them even though

there were leaks in 2013 that revealed the truth about the NSAs actions.

Some people argue that the NSA is beneficial in some ways even if they are spying on the

people of the US. People argue that there will always be the possibility of a major terror attack so

if the NSA is spying on Americans it's justifiable. Even though the NSA has done little to stop

terror attacks they have taken part in many operations that helped the US. Such as using satellites

over pakistan to help ground troops carry out their missions of killing Osama Bin Laden. The

US commando raid that killed Osama Bin Laden was guided from space by a fleet of satellites,

which aimed dozens of receivers over Pakistan to collect a torrent of electronic and signals

intelligence as the mission unfolded- (Whitlock). Through counter intelligence and data

collecting they helped find the location of Bin Laden and helped plan the layout of the compound

where he was hiding through satellite imagery. They argue that they can do the same if the threat

ever comes to the USA. At the cost of citizens privacy many agree with the NSA spying on them.

They sacrifice their privacy and liberty for security which is exactly what the NSA is doing but

many agree that it's necessary to keep themselves and the country safe. Many terror attacks are

also stopped by information collected by the NSA before an attack Many of these terrorist

operations are uncovered and thwarted before they are able to be carried out (McLaughlin). But

these situations in which the NSA helps stop an attack are rare and not as dangerous as once

perceived.
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Although somewhat beneficial to towards keeping the country safe it is clear from

evidence that the NSA is spying on the american people of the United States. In 2006, USA

Today published a story disclosing that the NSA had compiled a massive database of call records

from American telecommunications companies (Cohn and Rumold). Since the creation of the

internet, the world wide web has been susceptible to illegal activity. One of these illegal

activities is terrorism; with access to the internet terrorists have easy accessibility to recruit new

members and plan attacks easier. Since the 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers the government

issued the Patriot Act, which allows the NSA to privately search for possible terrorist activities in

the internet. This indirectly allows the NSA to spy on the american people without backlash.

Although they are protecting the people by spying on possible terrorist threats, it is not justified.

The fourth amendment in the Bill of Rights states that no citizen can be spied on without the

party being searched knowing. The NSA have implements to spy within the world wide web and

even outside of it in this physical plain. The US government employed virtually every tool in its

enormous surveillance apparatus to locate Bin Laden (Craig and Gellham). The NSA is an

extension of the government and with access to the tools to spy on the american people, no one

will have the power to topple and stop the NSAs activities unless they can stop a legislation of

US government officials.

With the government having access to suspend or alter laws to bend their will who's to

say that they wont suspend any of our basic constitutional rights. The fourth amendment in our

constitution states that every US citizen has the right to freedom of privacy; this amendment has

been reprimanded by the NSA, and the US citizens have no idea that their constitutional right has

been broken. Even though most of the NSAs operations were uncovered by the whistleblower

Edward Snowden, the U.S. government has done little to suppress the actions of the NSA and
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people still go unmoved to do anything about their privacy being taken away. "Those who would

give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor

Safety."( Franklin). The people of the United States are being taken away their liberty

unknowingly with the promise of safety from the terrorists but how can the citizens of the U.S.

be truly entitled to liberty if the government takes it away. With the number of increasing

number of internet users in the U.S., the evidence of NSA data mining becomes more evident.

News reports in December 2005 first revealed that the National Security Agency has been

intercepting American phone calls and internet communications (Cohn and Rumold). The basis

of the Fourth Amendment is that we have the right to privacy and if we want to be searched the

opposing party need legal documentation and permission from government officials to intrude in

your private life. The NSA has no right to break the rights of millions of citizens of the U.S. ,and

no outdated government approved act that allows them to search through anything that might

come up as a possible terrorist threat does not justify it. The NSA spying and breaking the fourth

amendment is not justified by possible terrorism acts or threats on the U.S. people. If we are truly

free, we would be granted our full privacy and the NSA will stop their actions of espionage

immediately. If our complete privacy means being vulnerable to terrorist attacks or threats than

thats what needs to be done; we would no longer be secured but itll mean our freedom and

right.

Works Cited

McLaughlin, Jenna. "U.S. Mass Surveillance Has No Record of Thwarting Large Terror

Attacks, Regardless of Snowden Leaks." The Intercept. N.p., 17

Nov. 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.

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Cohn, Cindy, and Mark Rumold. "Confirmed: The NSA Is Spying on

Millions of Americans." Electronic Frontier Foundation. N.p., 5 June 2013.

Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

Whitlock, Craig, and Barton Gellman. "To Hunt

Osama Bin Laden, Satellites Watched over Abbottabad,

Pakistan, and Navy SEALs." The Washington Post.

WP Company, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.

Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 11

November 1755, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified

December 6, 2016, http://founders.archives. gov/documents/Franklin/01-06-02-

0107.

[Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 6, April 1, 1755, through

September 30, 1756, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven and London:

Yale University Press, 1963, pp. 238243.]