Security of our nation - Essay Example

As a direct result of the fact that an increased level of interconnectedness and communication links diverse communities and individuals the world over, the nature and scope of existing threats to national security it might be posed by elements that would wish to do the United States harm has been drastically increased. Yet, in order to more completely understand the issues relating to domestic and international eavesdropping/spying that has been proven to exist by the leaks of whistleblower Edward Snowden and others, the following analysis will focus upon the key issues, the stakeholders involved within the scope of this espionage, and the technology involved.

By regarding these issues and focusing on the political and ethical ramifications that these issues entail, the analysis will be able to pinpoint the way in which this issue is currently defined. Firstly, with regards to the key issues, it can be understood that the right and expectation to privacy is the first and most prescient of all. Whereas constitutional scholars have argued for decades over whether or not the Constitution in and of itself guarantees or somehow implies a right to privacy, the fact of the matter is that this has come to be something of an expected norm within the American society and the way of life.

As such, the revelations concerning the fact that millions upon millions of phone calls, emails, instant messages, social networks, chats, texts, and web searches are stored and analyzed by a litany of different computer algorithms and analysts has rekindled the debate and focused many individuals upon the key issue of privacy and the means through which personal information can or should be intercepted in the name of national security (Hill 19). The second key issue that exists within this particular analysis is whether or not a domestic spy agency is allowed to intercept communications of American citizens if these communications are not taking place between the individual and someone outside the country and/or taking place between American citizen and an individual who is a suspect or person of interest with regards to national security.

This is the more ignored aspect of the debate. Ultimately, the intelligence agencies within the United States, the CIA, the DIA, the NSA, and a litany of others, are all bound by a central and constraining rubric. This central rubric concerns the fact that these agencies are not allowed to spy on United States is within the United States. However, the revelations of whistleblower Edward Snowden point to the fact that agency such as the NSA have flagrantly been ignoring this rule for years. In seeking to gain a greater deal of understanding with regards to the stakeholders of this particular issue, the reader can come to a simple understanding; that each and every individual within the United States and throughout the world is impacted by the actions that are being taken by the National Security Agency and other intelligence groups are tracking, recording, and monitoring the communications of individuals around the globe.

This delineation of “everyone” as a potential stakeholder in this process is underscored by the fact that recent documentation and revelations by Edward Snowden and others have pointed to the fact that the information of