Let's hear more from the NSA

Recent news about the US government's actions has been rather shocking.  According to Glenn Greenwald, writing for The Guardian, "The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon" (Greenwald 1), and it is suggested that the records from other major networks are also collected (Greenwald 16).  Traditionally, the NSA's has been banned from spying on American citizens.  Therefore many people are concerned about the implications of this revelation.  According to Greenwald, the records that are scooped up are considered "metadata", which "would allow the NSA to build easily a comprehensive picture of who any individual contacted, how and when, and possibly from where" (Greenwald 15).  Americans who value their liberty to freely associate with others, without government interference, are raising objects to this gathering of phone records.  

Additionally, The Guardian has reported on an NSA's program called Prism, "which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats" (Greenwald and MacAskill).  

Understandably, Americans desire more information about the NSA programs. People want to know how much the government knows about them, and how the government plans to use that information.  There is a natural tendency to ask "If I am not a criminal, why do you need to know who I call, or what I email?" 

Of course, the US government claims that there is a good purpose to these programs.  The director of the NSA has claimed that they have helped prevent 50 terrorist plots since 2001.  He even shared some details about four of the plots.  However, the remaining plots remain secret.  The director’s statements are also unclear on what contribution other methods had in stopping the plots.  

In the absence of detailed information about the NSA’s activities, the public is left with the information that was leaked by an NSA contractor.  This has led to widespread public speculation, but little constructive dialogue.  It is nearly impossible to have a meaningful conversation when one side claims to have a deeper understanding, but is unwilling to share what they know.  It is time for government officials to lay out more details of the NSA’s programs – not just the results, but the process it took to get there.

Works cited:

Greenwald, Glenn. "NSA Collecting Phone Records of Millions of Verizon Customers Daily." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 05 June 2013. Web. 19 June 2013. 

Greenwald, Glenn, and Ewen MacAskill. "NSA Prism Program Taps in to User Data of Apple, Google and Others." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 06 June 2013. Web. 20 June 2013