How Do the NSC and APNSA Operate - Essay Example

Topic: HOW DO THE NSC AND APNSA OPERATE? Introduction The national security agency (NSA) is the U.S intelligence agency that has been given the responsibility of providing the United States government with encrypted information assurance and reading encrypted communication signals intelligence of other nations. The department that has been mandated with the duty to create and maintain secure computer network operations for the US government and prepare for impeding network warfare. On the other hand, the assistant to the president for national security affairs APNSA is the senior most official in the executive office of the president who serves as the chief advisor stationed in the white house to the president of the United States on national security issues. The person who seat in that chair also is a member of national security council, and is located in the west wing of the white house where he finds support from national security council staff that produces research, intelligence and briefings for the APNSA to review and present them to the president. The origin of NSA can be traced from 1917 after the congress declared war on Germany in World War 1 during this time a code and cipher decryption unit was set up with its headquarters in Washington D.C (Nakashima, pp.3-5). How do the NSC and APNSA operate? The NSA is responsible for protection of U.S government communications and other information system, due to the growing practice of mass surveillance in the U.S. NSA collects all phone records of all Americans citizens that it uses in analysis of potential threat to the nation. However, NSA has no authority to conduct human source intelligence gathering although it is often portrayed doing so in popular culture and regions. Nevertheless, it remains its objective to coordinate and de confliction of SIGINT components of otherwise non-SIGINT government organization. These organizations are prevented by law from engaging in such activities without the approval of the NSA through the secretary of defense (Bam ford, p.50). NSA has been reported to be doing massive extent of the NSA’s spying both domestic and foreign that was revealed to the public in a series of detailed disclosures of internal NSA documents from June 2013 where most disclosures are said to have been leaked by former NSA contractor Edward snow den. Since everybody insists that they should have privacy of what they do with their private lives, it is evident that with NSA there is nothing like privacy. Through a dedicated unit of the NSA that locates targets for the CIA for what is commonly referred to as extra judicial assassination in the Middle East. NSA does not have limits of those who it spies on. According to reports from NSA assets extensive spy has been conducted on the European Union the United Nations and other numerous government that include allies and other trading partners in Asia Europe and South America. Additionally it also tracks locations of hundreds of millions of cell phones per day that enable them to map people’s movements and also their relationships in details. It has been reported that NSA can access all communications that people make through yahoo, YouTube, AOL, paltalk, apple, Skype, Google, Microsoft and face book. And collects hundreds of millions contact list from personal email and other instant messaging accounts each year (Bamford, pp 52-57). In the U.S the NSA collects metadata of phone calls of the phone calls of over 120 million us Verizon subscribers as well as internet communication that rely on what they call secret Verizon subscribers and other internet communications that consider all U.S communications to be considered relevant to terrorism investigations. With people who are said to have radical political and religious view the NSA collects information that is intended to discredit them and monitor their movements. Nevertheless NSA has been criticizes by the congress for failing to be accountable to its own secret rules. President Obama however, insists that there is working legal checks in place to prevent in appropriate access of data and that there have been no examples of abuse. Additionally, NSA has disregarded the special rules for disseminating United States person information by illegally sharing its intercepts with other law enforcing agencies (George, p 32). Currently NSA has about 30,000 employees who their identity is highly classified this employees include military and civilians which keeps on piling day in day out. It is said to be the largest employer of mathematicians who are responsible in providing satellite signals intelligence. NSA conducts polygraph tests of employees for new employees which are meant to discover enemy spies who may be applying to uncover any information. Embarrassing questions are included in the question list. Connectively, NSA also conducts a five year periodic reinvestigations in order to find spies and other leakers, for those who refuse to take the polygraph they refuse termination of employment as per 1982 memorandum from the director of the NSA. During this interrogation, process people confess of felonies such as rape murder and selling of illegal drugs. The director of NSA has the power to fire any employee at will. NSA is believed to have representatives in every country in the world that is mainly undercover but reports to the NSA headquarter. These employees are trained to act normally within their area so that it would be hard to detect them. These enable them to listen and report anything which a foreign government is planning (George, p 36). Past APNSA Members The National Security Advisor is appointee of the president whose role varies from administration to the other and depends heavily on the qualities of a person being appointed. The national security advisor operates from the white house situation room and updates the president in an event of a crisis. From the time of its creation, twenty-four persons have served in that office in a time of eleven presidents where the current person sitting on that chair is Susan Rice. Taking a few of the person sandy Berger who was the 19th United States national security advisor in the time of bill Clinton presidency. In 1999, Berger was highly criticized for not informing President Clinton of his knowledge that The Peoples Republic of China had managed to acquire the designs of a number of U.S nuclear warheads. After the incidence, many people called for his resignation for failure to act on a serious matter. Connectively in 2004, it was revealed that the U.S justice department was investigating Berger for unauthorized removal of classified documents from national archives this were five classified copies of single report commissioned from Richard Clarke that covered internal assessments of Clinton’s administration on the unsuccessful 2000 millennium attack plots. Berger was fined $50,000 sentenced to serve two years of probation and 100 hours of community service (Nakashima, pp2-4). Condoleezza rice who served in president George W Bush presidency helped the administration in combating terrorist activities after she worked out to see president bush in the white house during the campaign. Secondly, Tom Donilon who served in Obama’s administration was prominent during the formulation of strategy for Afghanistan and other associated discussions in Bob Woodwards however; he was criticized for lack of overseas experience by national security advisor Jones. He said that tom was not adequate in dealing with staff at the national security council who displayed very little feel for those working day and night. The current seating security advisor was highly criticized by the congress and the republicans for her handling of the 2012 Benghazi attack and the aftermath she however, was sworn in since her current position does not require senate approval (Schmitz, pp 2-3). Conclusion For the government to function well and protect its citizens this bodies, play important role hence should not be abused by people with personal interests and other like motives aimed for personal satisfactions and gain. The holders of the office should be people who are accountable and responsible to carry out duties allocated to them. For every operation to go well it must have effective communication when NSA is able to filter all the communication that people converse and then uses it to defend its citizens then the country shall be well protected from adversaries. Work cited Bauer, Craig P. Secret History: The Story of Cryptology (Volume 76 of Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications). CRC Press, 2013.Print Bamford, James. Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency, Random House Digital, Inc., 2007 print George, Robert Z; Harvey Rishikof. The National Security Enterprise: Navigating the Labyrinth. Georgetown University Press.2011.Print. Schmitz, David F. Brent Scowcroft: Internationalism and Post-Vietnam War American Foreign Policy. Rowan & Littlefield. 2011. Print Nakashima Ellen U.S. publicly calls on China to stop commercial cyber-espionage, theft of trade secrets.11.03.2013.web.24.04.2014. Read More