Although the cold war has ended and the Soviet Union has disbanded, there is still a need of intelligence collection for the United States. Finding itself as the leader of the rest of the world, the United States must prepare to identify problems as they arise, the earlier the detection, the more likelihood for success. With any one intelligence agency having too much information, problems could arise; therefore, it is imperative to keep a close watchful eye on these agencies to ensure that personal rights are not infringed upon.
The success of intelligence gathering agencies is hard to determine. It is difficult to argue that covert operations had much of an impact on the outcome of the cold war (Nutter), but the cold war was not and is not the only objective for intelligence agencies. In fact, since the cold war the intelligence agencies of the United States have accomplished several tasks set before them; for instance, assisting other countries in identifying terrorists like Carlos the Jackal in Sudan, the head of the Shining Path in Peru, and the ring leader of the World Trade Center Bombing in the Philippines. As the leader of the world in the 21ST century, the United States intelligence agencies must keep up this highest level of information gathering procedures in order to stay ahead of any upcoming problems down the road.
With intelligence gathering operations being utilized as collection assets on embassies of opposing nations based in the United States, careful consideration must be used when working so close with the American public. Everyday information that may appear irrelevant could be very valuable to domestic or foreign-based companies for advertising campaigns, marketing forecasts, and price gouging. This type of information leakage is a violation of an American’s rights.
One problem with having so much information at home and abroad is seeing the correct way to solve dilemmas before they occur. While in war actions of questionable ethics often go unanswered and are hardly given a second thought. In 1941 when the Czech military intelligence service approached the British Special Operations Executive for assistance in an assassination of a German SS Officer no questions were raised, not even about who the target maybe (Richelson). With any agency possessing too much knowledge internally, it may choose to take the short road to ensure success of a mission. Thus, the American public should support the United States intelligence agencies, but keep a close watchful eye on them as well.
When it comes to personal information in America, the genie is out of the bottle. As such, information security will continue to be a pressing concern especially to most of our top three-letter-agencies such as the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), NSA (National Security Agency), DOD (Department of Defense), and HS (Homeland Security) as most of them are staffed with employees with top secret security clearances (also known as TS).When someone is given this clearance, not only are they slated to uphold an allegiance to core values but they are also entrusted with our nations’ sensitive secrets and are held to the highest standards. Many of these professionals are honest and loyal to their country, but all humans are susceptible to preservation, desires, and needs that the famous psychologist Maslow showed in his famous hierarchy of needs pyramid. As such, without undue temptation and trickery most handle their jobs well and uphold their commitments to quietly (sometimes loudly) dedicate their lives to patriotism.
McCraw, David, and Stephen Gikow. “The End to a Unspoken Bargain? National Security and Leaks in a Post-Pentagon Papers World.” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 48.2 (2013): 473-509. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
The mission and values of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is up held with strong Constitutional values. Over the years since the FBI was created in 1908 by Attorney General Charles Bonaparte during the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. As a progressive during this time period Bonaparte applied his philosophy to forming the FBI with several corps of agents. His thought was that these men should have expertise and not political connections. With the U.S. Constitution based on “federalism” a national government with jurisdiction over matters that cross boundaries, such as interstate and foreign affairs.
After World War II American intelligence had the need to be transformed. The inexperience along with bureaucracy and poor coordination among American intelligence officers obligated the United States intelligence community to change dramatically in order to confront the new challenges that emerged after the end of WWII. From Early America through WWI the intelligence system of the United States of America was involved in operations in which they had to construct intelligence systems virtually from scratch (Andrew 1995). Human intelligence was already developed, but with certain limitations and other intelligence disciplines were underdeveloped and very seldom sophisticated. After WWI America recessed and settled in a period of peace. The United States faced no threat to its security from its neighbors, from powers outside of the Western Hemisphere (Lowenthal 2006). That caused a visible absence of intelligence activities, leaving America out of sight for any international conflicts; the United States of America focused and limited its activities beyond its own borders. In later years the Japanese attack to Pearl Harbor, America rushed to reactivate their military forces, moving from a passive country to full participation into a another international conflict; WWII. As a consequence, the United States engaged in activities that improved its intelligence system increasing its capabilities needed to address seriously the future threats of the Cold War.
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...
...that had helped the United States to be one of the greatest counties that it is today. Within the agency, there was no communications where they kept information from each other. The CIA agency had no idea what they were doing in regards to central intelligence and they were compromised where the enemies knew about the attack before the attack was fully implemented. These examples prove that some leaders had some positive outcomes for the United States, but the agency from within could not stay united as well as keeping communications about what was going on in the world. I agree with Tim Weiner’s thesis that the United States is one of the greatest countries in the world, but we cannot seem to create a great and efficient spy service to benefit the United States.
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.
...e community have had conflicting views and opposing agendas. Lack of cooperation and communication between intelligence agencies; such as the FBI and the CIA refusing to share information prior to the terrorist attacks of 2001, resulted in limited information and failure on the part of the intelligence community and policy decisions regarding US safeguards against terrorist.
Nedzi (D-Mich.), Luclen N. “Oversight or Overlook: Congress and the US Intelligence Agency.” A Congressman talk to the CIA senior seminar, November 14, 1979, https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol18no2/pdf/v18i2a02p.pdf (accessed January 7, 2014).
Edward Snowden, the famous “whistleblower”, shocked the world with his revelations about the NSA’s database and the programs which allow the organization to access personal information not only of citizens of other nations, but also of citizens of the U.S. The most shocking revelation of all was not the existence of these programs, but the fact that the Obama administration allowed those programs to exist in direct violation of every U.S. citizen’s right to privacy.
The Central Intelligence Agency The CIA is one of the U.S. foreign intelligence agencies, responsible for getting and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. government. The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Defense Department's Defense Intelligence Agency comprise the other two. Its headquarters is in Langley, Virginia, across the Potomac River from D.C. The Agency, created in 1947 by President Harry S. Trueman, is a descendant of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) of World War 2. The OSS was dissolved in October 1945 but William J. Jonavan, the creator of the OSS, had submitted a proposal to President Roosevelt in 1944.
Domestic Surveillance 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.
Throughout the years most country's governments have established some sort of secret police. No matter what the government called it, whether it is the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or her Majesty's secret service (MI6), whatever name the government used, the international term of "secret police" could always be applied. Many agencies of secret police have had their success and failures, some more than others. The KGB, which in English means "the Committee of Public Safety," has had their share of both successes and failures. Most secret police agencies have been used primarily to obtain information from other countries. This was also a primary goal for the KGB, but one of their other goals, which was just as important, was to keep unwanted outside information from the Russian people. This was only one out of many the KGB's objectives. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to prove that the actions of the KGB were, all in all, a success.
The world erupted in outrage following revelations by Edward Snowden regarding the extent of surveillance perform by the National Security Agency. Privacy becomes one of the hottest topic of 2013 and was chosen by the world’s most popular online dictionary, Dictionary.com, as the Word of the Year. However, the government is not the only one that conduct data gathering and surveillance. Employers often monitor their employees, and businesses collect data on theirs customer. The morality of these practices is a topic that generates heated debate.
In the wake of the many attacks within our country in the past month alone, the idea of freely letting the government seize information in the interest of preventing these attacks and save countless lives becomes significantly more appealing. It means that now, we as citizens are directly involved in the security of our own nation. We then become part of that “greater good”. We can make a big difference in the lives of our fellow Americans just from the very simple act of surrendering something as seemingly small and insignificant as privacy.