NSA Surveillance Pros And Cons

Superior Essays
The events of September 11th, 2001 changed the duties and beliefs of the national government forever. After the largest breach on national security of the 21st century, the national government responded strongly and swiftly. Under President Bush, the Patriot Act was easily passed through both houses of Congress, and has since then been reauthorized multiple other times (NSA Surveillance). The powers and responsibilities of the National Security Agency were also drastically altered to fit the needs of a new era in this nation.
The Patriot Act
The Patriot Act granted the national government more authority and enforcement in order to protect the country against terrorism (Mockaitis). A main goal of this legislature was to give the government faster
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Anything electronically transmitted can be picked up by the NSA. This poses a threat to both personal communications between both friends and family, and business communications between companies. Another criticism against the NSA surveillance is that they have access to medical records, which are again private information that are only intended for a doctor and his patient (Cohn). The NSA used to only collect data on pieces of information that contained certain words or phrases that the government thinks are suspicious. Now, they can access anything and everything they want whenever they want (Harris). While many citizens were outraged by the NSA, some Americans fully supported the agency. Much support comes from the fear of the events of 9/11 repeating. Many citizens would rather have their phone calls listened to to ensure that they are being protected from foreign threats (Obama). They are willing to give up a piece of their privacy to gain more …show more content…
After Edward Snowden exposed the NSA for spying on foreign leaders, President Obama informed America that he was not aware of this and will be making changes to who the government spies on (Childress). This has also caused the President to be more informed on what the NSA is doing. Many Americans find relief in this because they trust the President. Recently, Congress has discussed bills that would increase the NSA’s collective powers, but would limit it to only specifically targeted or threatening people (Wanlund). Obama shows a strong hand when it comes to doing what the American people want. He recently overrode a policy to force records to be released under the Freedom of Information Act (Jost). Obama has also proposed a reform plan that will continually declassify information that he feels is necessary for the public to know (Obama). He wants to emphasize the importance of this agency, while ensuring that citizens’ rights are not being infringed upon. Obama plans on keeping this agency for as long as necessary, while reforming it in the most effective ways possible for both the agency and the people (Obama). As for future presidents, their policies could differ. This topic could become important in the upcoming

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