Article Entry
25 Feb 2009
Comments:3
Must Privacy be Sacrificed in the Name of Security?
Added by USGIF Category: Daily Intelligence Brief, General
While this story is UK-based, the lead architect of the UK’s government’s national security strategy warned citizens that that more “intrusive methods of surveillance” are needed to tackle the threat posed by modern terrorists. Sir David Omond raised this point in a paper by the Institute for Public Policy. What is most interesting is the candor in actually admitting that citizens’ privacy will be compromised.
Now, what do we really think about this? In the U.S., the Bush administration took lots of heat for the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy surrounding the “Terrorist Surveillance Program.” While the exact scope of this program is classified, many speculated that the average citizen, could and did, have their privacy rights compromised.
On the one-hand, Sir Omond is being upfront about any compromises to people’s privacy, where as the Bush administration was more secretive about it. The big question is do these types of programs work? The truth is that we will never really know – unless you are actually working on these classified program. However, the one challenge of the intelligence community – as former DNI McConnell highlighted at the GEOINT 2008 Symposium – is that the intelligence community cannot make public its successes, which leads room for speculation by the masses.
We can certainly point to the fact that there has yet to be another 9/11. Is this a matter of luck, or the good works of the intelligence community? Perhaps it is both, but we think it’s all about the intelligence community working quietly in the shadows to protect our citizens. It is a heavy burden that the intelligence community takes on behalf of its citizens…and with the burden comes very tough decisions and challenges. So, we ask you, is it worth sacrificing privacy in order to keep people safe? Please share your thoughts with us!
Tags: 9/11, Intelligence Community, NSA, Privacy Rights, Sir David Omond, United Kingdom, Warrantless Surveillance
It is a tightrope and the intelligence community gets the proverbial shaft. Citizens hate the Big brother concept during times of “peace” but then they start pointing fingers when things go awry.
This may go back to a previous post about the need for a PR campaign…perhaps Americans need a better understanding of what is at stake and what is required to stay ahead of the curve.
The issue lies in the ability of the citizenry to trust that the government manages information in an appropriate manner. Currently we have a whole cloud of personal information out there available to numerous government agencies but we tend to trust that these agencies act in a responsible manner with that information. Being surveilled might seem appropriate under certain conditions (and we should understand that we already transact within a highly surveilled society – albeit it by the private sector for the most part) and there should be clear triggers with which we can trust our government to adhere, but blanket surveillance that went on during the Bush years was not only an egregious intrusion on the privacy of US citizens, it was also EXTREMELY counter-productive.