This past week, an international uproar erupted when it was
revealed that the US’s NSA program has been spying on at least 35 world
leaders, many being America’s own allies. I, unlike a majority of people who
have caught wind of this conflict, do not take issue with the NSA’s recent
snooping. Many may see this as betrayal, but I’m of the opinion that the
federal government’s primary responsibility is to take every necessary measure
to protect the American people from foreign enemies. Whether the NSA’s spying
is essential in America’s military strategy is a different argument for others
to have—I merely contend that the NSA acted within its rights in this case.
I personally see the snooping as an extension of national
security. The American military and intelligence may be involved in foreign
affairs such as the anarchy in Iraq and Syria to help benefit society as a
whole, but they are also immersed in these conflicts to stay “in the know”
regarding intentional issues. In this case, the NSA took a sneakier approach in
investigating other country’s internal happenings, but a similar principle was
exercised.
I’m not, however, a huge fan of the NSA as a result of its
snooping on a number of innocent American citizens. The program claimed it was within
its right provided by the Patriot Act (which, again, is a separate argument),
but its domestic intrusion was essentially dismissed by the American people in
a matter of weeks. I personally find it unreasonable to be more concerned with
the NSA’s spying on foreign leaders than on the American people, but perhaps
that’s just me.
That's a good point. As things stand, they are probably very much within their rights. And if they are collecting data on ordinary individuals, it would seem sensible and fair to collect it on leaders as well. In each case, though, the question of use of resources and general prudence seems to be the crux of the issue. Is it really worth the time to spy on close allies? And if we do have the resources to do this, isn't that telling in and of itself?
ReplyDeleteI do not find it surprising that the NSA is listening into other nations phone calls as the NSA does it to United States citizens. I think in some case it is acceptable to listen in but not whenever the US would like
ReplyDeleteYou raise a good point regarding the spying on US citizens. If the NSA is doing it on us, then we probably could have guessed that they were doing it on other countries...but allies? Getting caught doing this can bring on many consequences. This dilemma also shows how corrupt our government. Our government lies to it's people and now allies. We need a good relationship with allies, and if this continues to occur it will be interesting to see where this relationship ends up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you to some extent that there is a need to keep an eye on foreign entities just to be safe. However, the question is really how far are we going with it? I mean it's one thing to find out how many tanks and troops they have and what they're doing with them. It's another thing to tap their phone conversations in my opinion.
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