![\"\"](\"https:\/\/savvyconsumer.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/03\/sallygsig.jpg\" "\\"sallygsig\\"")
<\/a>By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
The U.S. government has\u00a0charged Snowden with espionage<\/a>. Snowden, a 29-year-old high school drop-out (he later earned his GED), had been hired by an outsourced government contractor and working with sensitive NSA data since 2009. His release of the classified information has not only raised serious questions about the legality of such data collection and what this means for people living in a free, democratic society such as ours, but also has muddled international relations with China and Russia, both countries in which he has appeared since fleeing. Neither Russia nor Hong Kong were willing \u00a0to extradite \u00a0him \u00a0to the US. Much of the media\u2019s focus over the last few weeks has revolved around Snowden\u2019s whereabouts, but these revelations about NSA\u2019s actions have also started a more sobering discussion about what role the government plays in both protecting the American people from terrorist attacks and preserving civil liberties. Polls taken since the disclosure of NSA\u2019s policies show Americans are divided on this issue.<\/p>\n A\u00a0PEW poll<\/a>\u00a0reported that 56 percent of Americans think the NSA\u2019s tracking of \u201cmillions of Americans\u201d phone records is an acceptable way for the government to investigate terrorism. Conversely, in a\u00a0CBS poll<\/a>\u00a0that asked about collecting phone records of \u201cordinary Americans\u201d only 38 percent of respondents found the practice acceptable. Due to the lack of transparency in the NSA program, Americans are unclear how useful such data collection is to ensuring our safety and security. Both the Obama Administration and Gen. Keith B. Alexander, head of the NSA, claim the programs have thwarted dozens, perhaps as many as 50, terror plots. This number might prove more persuasive if the agency would reveal more details about these terrorist activities, but they\u2019ve instead played the \u201ctrust us, we\u2019re here to protect you\u201d card and are reluctant to disclose information about the actual plots or the tools used to stop those plots. That leaves many Americans skeptical about the validity of such statements. Could these terrorist attacks have been stopped by other means?\u00a0Were<\/em>\u00a0these terrorist attacks stopped by other means?<\/p>\n One strategy that both protects security but seeks to preserve our privacy and freedom of association is being pursued by a handful of US Senators. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has introduced the\u00a0FISA Accountability and Privacy Protection Act of 2013<\/a>. This bipartisan bill aims to bolster existing privacy safeguards and require greater oversight, transparency, and accountability in connection with the government\u2019s expansive domestic surveillance powers. Government plays an important role in all of our lives in acting for the common good; state and local governments were established to do the things communities benefit from: ensure fire and police protection, build and maintain schools, hospitals, water treatment plants and sewer systems. But when our federal government collects billions of pieces of information from the phone records and Internet data of all its citizens with a vague explanation that this is needed for \u201cnational security,\u201d that\u2019s a fishing expedition and should raise serious concerns about privacy.<\/p>\n Perhaps most of us don\u2019t feel like we\u2019re living in a police state, but when you stop to think about the ways in which our privacy has been invaded, it\u2019s scary. Many cities, including where I live in Washington DC, have literally hundreds of cameras deployed all across town operating 24\/7. GPS tracking devices are ubiquitous. DUI checkpoints are common and the cops can take your blood if they suspect you\u2019ve been drinking, and now,\u00a0according to the Supreme Court<\/a>, if you get stopped for a minor infraction your DNA can be loaded into a database. As one\u00a0USA Today<\/em>\u00a0commentator put it<\/a>, \u201cThere must be a balance between legitimate security and overbearing government.\u201d We have indeed seen a steady erosion of privacy since 9\/11.<\/p>\n The passage of the Patriot Act was a reaction to the attack on the United States and was just the opening salvo. And what has that gotten us? More protection from terrorists? I\u2019m skeptical. Why did the FBI miss the Boston Marathon bombers when the Russian government warned them about the older Tsarnaev brother, saying he was dangerous? The CIA missed Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan\u2019s relationship with terrorist groups. Not to mention that there were many red flags that our intelligence agencies missed before the 9\/11 attack, such as young Saudi men living isolated lives but getting flight training, traveling from the United States to Osama Bin Laden\u2019s training camps. In America, there exists a generation of young people who are inured to this loss of liberty, loss of privacy and the difficulty getting these protections back once they\u2019ve been lost. As Benjamin Franklin said \u201cAny people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety.\u201d Ronald Reagan, 200 years later, echoed the same: \u201cConcentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director On June 6, Edward Snowden leaked classified information about the National Security Agency\u2019s (NSA) collection of massive amounts of data over the last decade. 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