America as we know is made of many tight knit pieces that work together to achieve a common goal. An analysis of the surveillance programs enacted by the United States reveals that the United States uses only a few pieces to establish a strong and somewhat overbearing surveillance program. Through Stevenson’s America’s Foreign Policy Toolkit we are able to analyze further the parts that the United States focuses on.
The greatest tool that the United States focuses on is the ability of its’ Intelligence Community (IC) page 231 (Stevenson, 2012). The Intelligence Community is made up of 16 members whose actions are broadly known, with even more suspected. Hidden within the cloak of secrecy this community is largely blamed when things happen that are unfavorable or hurtful to the United States, while maintaining face about when they are successful. One of the “elements” of the IC, the CIA, as even been stated as “the president’s personal sword of power in foreign lands if all else fails, one he can use without asking Congress first.” To have such a strong arm as president can be extremely useful in many situations. However, with the collaborative efforts of each of these departments, we will sometimes hit a wall. With each intelligence agency used to their own standard operating procedures, it can be quite difficult to collaborate with other “elements” unless someone is pulling you by the arm.
The biggest “element” with the most exposure in the media is the National Security Agency. The NSA’s primary goal is to collect signals intelligence and code breaking. An agency under the Department of Defense, the NSA, has only a small description in the Toolkit however; we know they have only quite recently resurfaced. They were always know...
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...llect and process as much data about everyone no matter what country of origin they belong.
While the United States has been lack luster on the Diplomatic side of things, at least they are retaining their mission of Cyber Security page 263 (Stevenson, 2012). In the formation of Homeland Security, the internet was deemed a new avenue of vulnerability. Even more so, since the United States relies heavily on the internet to host and administer our infrastructure systems, such as Water, Gas, and Electric control systems. Leaving us wide open to an attack that could potentially disrupt our entire country at once. Luckily, the Obama administration has done something that I am appreciative of and recognizing that Cyber Security is not something to mess around with. With an ever-increasing budget, the government hopes to have a “full spectrum military cyberspace operation”.
Today, electronic surveillance remains one of the most effective tools the United States has to protect against foreign powers and groups seeking to inflict harm on the nation, but it does not go without a few possessing a few negative aspects either. Electronic surveillance of foreign intelligence has likely saved the lives of many innocent people through prevention of potential acts of aggression towards the United States. There are many pros to the actions authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) pertaining to electronic surveillance, but there are also cons. Looking at both the pros and cons of electronic surveillance is important in understanding the overall effectiveness of FISA. [1]
"The Triumph of Technique – The Logic of the NSA." LibrarianShipwreck. WordPress.com, 22 June 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.
With the introduction of the internet being a relatively new phenomenon, the act of cyber espionage is not something that has been properly acknowledged by society. The American Government has done a stand up job of keeping its methods in the shadows and away from the eyes of its people since its documented domestic surveillance began on October 4th, 2001; Twenty three days after the Twin Towers fell President George Bush signed an order to begin a secret domestic eavesdropping operation, an operation which was so sensitive that even many of the country's senior national security officials with the...
Whether the U.S. government should strongly keep monitoring U.S. citizens or not still is a long and fierce dispute. Recently, the debate became more brutal when technology, an indispensable tool for modern live, has been used by the law enforcement and national security officials to spy into American people’s domestic.
The same surveillance state has become the new normal in America and is disturbingly recognizable today. Over six hundred state, local, and federal agencies conduct intelligence operations through Joint Terrorism Task Forces and Fusion Centers. In 2004, the ACLU discovered an FBI spying on political advocacy groups and found out that the FBI lied to hide these improper activities from Congress and the American public. The Senate report found the intelligence gathering at Fusion Centers was “flawed, irrelevant, unrelated to terrorism, and posed a serious threat to privacy (Rhode, 2017).” The Thought Police watch people in their public and private lives through the use of telescreens, microphones, and cameras and enforce loyalty and
The breath-taking expansion of police power that the United States government took after 9/11 now poses as a troubling issue. Americans need to address the issues of government surveillance because it affects t...
The NSA or the National Security Agency, is “the largest intelligence agency in the US, which is responsible for collecting and analyzing communications and signals intelligence, plus cybersecurity” ( MacAskill, Borger, and Greenwald par. 1-2). Since its inception, “the very existence of the National Security Agency was not revealed more than two decades after its establishment in 1952” ( MacAskill, Borger, and Greenwald par. 1). and since “its structure and activities remain largely unknown. Hence its wry nickname: No Such Agency” ( MacAskill, Borger, and Greenwald par.1). “Once President Harry Truman established the NSA, its purpose was to collect data and information across the country and internationally. The task originally gi...
About two weeks ago, I went to a discussion with General Michael Hayden at the Commonwealth Club. Hayden is the only person to have served as a director of both the CIA and the NSA. The talk he gave was about “American intelligence in an age of terror,” specifically discussing portions of his new book, which bears the same name. For sake of our discussion, we will focus on only one primary facet of Hayden’s talk--how we should view the role the intelligence community plays in everyday life.
In Robert Baer’s book See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism, he accounts his career in the CIA from the eighties to the late nighties. Through his time, Baer observes a particular relationship between U.S. intelligence agencies and their political masters. Specifically, Washington would direct intelligence resources for political purposes rather than that of gaining intelligence or combatting terrorism. Due to this, Baer through explicit accounts of meetings and conversations among other intelligence officials argues that political disinterest and even misuse of intelligence resources led to failures such as the 1993 TWC bombing, the 1998 U.S.S. Cole incident, and 9/11. As a result, through Baer’s exploits, U.S. intelligence agencies were hindered in its efforts to combat foreign threats due to intelligence operatives and managers either being limited in their capabilities or mismanaged to fulfill political promises rather than intelligence goals.
In this week’s assignment we will be looking at a number of significant issues that are or have confronted the intelligence community in a post 9-11 environment. We will quickly touch on the role the Global War on Terrorism has had on changes to the intelligence community’s position, procedures, and policies along with assessing how the intelligence community has directed it efforts when it comes to dealing with traditional military threats from other countries. It is inarguable that for the large majority of times, change is instituted to make a situation better, or to prevent a bad situation from arising. So too can be said about the countless changes in policy and practices that have affected the intelligence community since 9-11. Retrospectively assessing a few of these polices it can become difficult to see in its totality if they have helped the intelligence community or in a way weakened it.
In times of great terror and panic, the citizens of a nation must decide what they value most: their right to privacy or the lives of the innocent. Government surveillance is criticized, however there are times in a nation’s history where, in order to ensure the safety of their citizens, they must surveill the country for potential hazards that might exist in the world. The government-issued program, COINTELPRO--a series of illegal projects during the twentieth century organized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation--while heavily criticized for its unconstitutional grounds--was justified because it benefitted the nation during a period of upheaval. COINTELPRO is popularly condemned by historians and professors such as Brandeis University Professor of Sociology, David Cunningham, who asserts that the FBI counterintelligence program was only a form of repression that allowed for the government to suppress matters that they consider bothersome (234) This however was not the case. COINTELPRO was necessary because of the great social unrest, individuals posed threats to society, and creating operations that were beneficial to the United States.
The United States has involved itself in several covert operations throughout the nation’s short history. Operations, like the Iran-Contra Affair, and the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) role in Afghanistan are just two examples of these types of secret government missions, which have become divulged to the American public. Both of these operations occurred under President Regan, who listed strict executive goals to fight the Soviet social influence, Communism, from spreading across the world. Moreover, other similarities are observed between the two covert missions, like providing armaments and training to foreign rebel forces (National Security Archive 2006, Johnson 2011). Moreover, different agencies were used in the missions for distinct
Citizens feeling protected in their own nation is a crucial factor for the development and advancement of that nation. The United States’ government has been able to provide this service for a small tax and for the most part it is money well spent. Due to events leading up to the terrifying attacks on September 11, 2001 and following these attacks, the Unites States’ government has begun enacting certain laws and regulations that ensure the safety of its citizens. From the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 to the most recent National Security Agency scandal, the government has attempted and for the most part succeeded in keeping domestic safety under control. Making sure that the balance between obtaining enough intelligence to protect the safety of the nation and the preservation of basic human rights is not extremely skewed, Congress has set forth requisites in FISA which aim to balance the conflicting goals of privacy and security; but the timeline preceding this act has been anything but honorable for the United States government.
The United States has endured numerous security breaches and high security threats over the past two decades. After the attacks on 9/11, the office of Intelligence became a vital source in retrieving sensitive data and tracking down potential terrorists and their networks which could pose a threat to the American people and then forwarding that vital information to the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies. Intelligence became a key role in “assessing threats to critical American infrastructures, bio-and nuclear terrorism, pandemic diseases, threats to the borders to the nation, and radicalization within American society” (Randol, 2009, p. 7). The sharing of homeland security intelligence has become a precedence for Congress and the government. Our nation must be one step ahead of any potential terrorists that want to harm our turf. Within this text the capabilities and limitations of both domestic and foreign intelligence in supporting homeland security efforts will be explained;
George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, revolves around the government’s control over its society. This government is known as the Party. Orwell’s idea of an oppressive government that controls its society by keeping them under constant surveillance is equally frightening to the ability the US government’s National Security Agency has to access mass amounts of public and private information. Edward Snowden, former NSA employee, believes the American government goes beyond the Party’s Thought Police and telescreens. Snowden’s claim is justifiable because the US government invades the privacy of the people with organizations such as the NSA by using surveillance and controlling information.