Americans Think It's Okay To Snoop And Spy. Simply Shocking! I'm Floored And Flabbergasted!

     I am absolutely amazed and downright astounded that nearly two-thirds of the American population are willing to give up their 4th Amendment right to privacy in order to allow the federal government to spy and snoop.  According to a Washington Post/Pew Research Center poll, 62 percent of U.S. citizens favor "investigating threats at the expense of privacy."  The survey also reveals that more than half of those polled - 52 percent to be precise - believe the National Security Agency's telephone tracking program is "acceptable."  It boggles my mind that such a huge amount of people in this country are generally in support of the government's clandestine programs.  However, 52 percent of the people surveyed in the Washington Post/Pew poll think "Uncle Sam" should not monitor e-mails to prevent terrorist attacks.

   

     Meanwhile...Edward Snowden...who admitted to leaking classified information to

Glenn Greenwald - an American journalist who is a columnist for the U.S. edition of the British newspaper, The Guardian - may soon be facing criminal charges for exposing the government's vast, secret surveillance program, which includes the monitoring of Americans telephone and Internet data.

     The headline on the Tuesday, June 11th edition of USA Today asks if Snowden is "A Hero Or Is He A Traitor?"  Certain lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC don't have any doubts. 

Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein of California and Florida Democrat, Senator Bill Nelson

both call Snowden's actions "an act of treason."  And Republican

Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia says, "If it's not (treason)...

it's pretty damn close."

Snowden...the 29-year old former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency and former contractor of the National Security Agency...revealed last week how the NSA collects the telephone records of millions and millions of Americans.  The Justice Department is reportedly close to filing charges against the self-identified leaker.  That is - if anyone can find him.  Snowden had been - for several weeks - staying in a hotel in Hong Kong, but now...his whereabouts are unknown.

     The question being posed by federal officials - not to mention most Americans - is how a low level, private contractor with limited experience, who didn't complete high school...have access to the sensitive, confidential and classified materials that he leaked.  But documented reports state that 1.4 million people hold top secret clearances...with one-third of them being private contractors.  As for Snowden...he was - for the lack of a better phrase - "a computer geek."  His job was to troubleshoot whenever there was a problem with the NSA's computer networks.  Such employment apparently gave Snowden the opportunity to peek at nearly anything and everything top secret and to do so whenever he wanted.

     It is scary to think - if what Snowden says is true - that hacking in to an e-mail account is that easy that "Any analyst at any time can target anyone."  In his interview with Glenn Greenwald...Snowden said, "I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wire tap anyone...from you...or your accountant...to a federal judge...to even a President...if I had personal e-mail."

     One of my readers anonymously replied to my Sunday, June 9th commentary and remarked...."I guess it is hard for someone so liberal to admit that the Obama Administration is doing so much more (spying on Americans) than the Bush Administration ever did. Yet you still follow him (President Obama) and his administration like a puppy on a leash."

     All of you who read The Controversy regularly...know that I am generally  

in great support of President Obama and his programs.  I wish the President would have remembered what he said back in 2006 when the then Senator Obama stated the following regarding President

George W. Bush

and the Bush Administration.  "Giving law enforcement the tools they need to investigate suspicious activities is one thing...and it's the right thing.  But doing it without any real oversight...seriously jeopardizes the rights of all Americans and the ideals America stands for.  Americans fought a revolution, in part, over the right to be free from unreasonable searches...to ensure that our government couldn't come knocking in the middle of the night for no reason.  We need to find a way forward...to make sure that we can stop terrorists while protecting privacy and liberty of innocent Americans.  We have to find a way to give the President the power he needs to protect us...while making sure that he doesn't abuse that power.  It is possible to do that.  We've done it before.  We can do it again."

     As I wrote in my June 9th column..."We need to be perceptive and alert of a foreign enemy or a domestic, homegrown evil-doer.  But that being said...we cannot relinquish our right to privacy.  I realize the security of our homeland is vital and essential to the safety of each American...and that after 9/11...the officials of our federal government - as most other Americans - were stunned, numbed and paralyzed by the horror of that day and its aftermath.  But "Uncle Sam" - and his "nieces and nephews" in our nation's capital - also have the responsibility to protect our Constitutional rights.  Spying on us is wrong.  Plain and simple...it's wrong."

     I understand that people want to be protected.  Of course...so do I.  We, as Americans...want to be safe from terrorists and terrorism.  But as President Obama basically said in 2006...I want the government to do what is right.  I want to trust our elected officials...from the President of the United States on down...as well as those appointed by the President.  But I don't think our federal government should have the power...to abandon our civil liberties and do away with our 4th Amendment right to privacy.

     I have a tremendous problem with anyone - the government or anybody other than the recipient I am writing - reading or "monitoring" my e-mails.  Did Edward Snowden commit treason?  That'll be up to the courts to decide.  But the American people should never have been kept in the dark that the government is spying on tens of millions of people.  Somebody needed to tell us.  Did Snowden do it the right way?  Perhaps not.  But we needed to know. 

     Snowden revealed the secret information...of the surveillance programs in question...to protect our individual freedoms...which are just as important... as protecting our individual and national security. 

     Security of our homeland does matter...of course it does...but doing it in a way where the government is snooping on us...is unacceptable.  And hopefully now...the President....Congress...and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court...will correct the mistake.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

The Controversy will make an effort to publish a new commentary every Sunday and Wednesday.  Unscheduled essays may appear, from time to time, on other days as well.
 

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