Government Surveillance

"I sat on my balcony and watched them jump. You would see these people jump out of
the smoking windows and eventually plummet to the concrete below. Some of the people's
body's would violently jolt while in the air and would eventually go limp. Those were the people
whose hearts stopped due to heart attacks induced by the fear of death. There was a dark haze of
thick black smoke casted over New York that day and the air quality was so bad that for some
time sections of the city were blocked off." My grandpa's apartment building use to face the
Twin Towers, but now it faces newly constructed Freedom Tower which serves as a time capsule
for what he saw on September 11th, 2001. The 9/11 attacks orchestrated by the terrorist group alQaeda resulted in the deaths of 2,996 people that day. Forty-six days after the attacks the "Patriot
Act" was signed in order to protect American citizens through the use of Government
surveillance.
Government surveillance is needed in the U.S. in order to make sure our country is not
susceptible to a terrorist attack. If government surveillance is not allowed the countries defenses
would be weaker. Without the use of the information gained from government surveillance our
defense department would be weaker since they would not be able to gather enough information
on potential terrorist attacks. The information gathered is so vital to the defense of our country
since it gives our government the ability to gather information on chatter and rumors that
surround a potential terrorist plot. Without access to that information our defense department
becomes weaker since they would have no efficient way to gain leads on potential attacks against
the country. Therefore if government surveillance is not allowed in the U.S. we would be more
susceptible to a terrorist attack since our defenses would be weaker.

In this essay I plan to speak about how government surveillance is not only effective but
also how it is not random. I will also elaborate about the very specific policies in place that
ensure the privacy of any citizen that gets surveyed. There is a plethora of misconceptions about
government surveillance and one of them is about how effective is actually is. According to
National Security Officials "The U.S. governments sweeping surveillance programs have
disrupted more than 50 terrorist plots in the United States and abroad, including a plan to bomb
the New York Stock Exchange" (The Washington Post 2013). The thing that is alarming is that
despite the constant and improving efforts to stop terrorism by not only the United States but
other countries as well terrorist groups continue to rapidly expand. According to a map created
by the Coalition for a Democratic Syria, "ISIS has almost doubled the land it controls in Syria
since the US-led coalition began airstrikes against the extremist group in the summer" (Daily
Mail 2015). Despite numerous military attacks by various countries the terrorist group ISIS
continues to expand like clockwork. The rapid expansion and continuing of terrorist attacks by
ISIS has put the leaders of various countries on notice. Even FBI director James Comey has
come out and said that "The U.S. is at its greatest threat level from terrorist groups since 9/11."
(CNN 2015). As terrorist groups such as ISIS continue to expand in size so do their resources
and technology which is why government surveillance is so vital. By continuing to collect more
and more information the United States and other countries will be able to continue to foil
potential terrorist plots as well as eventually stopping terrorist groups from continuing to expand.
The problem with the continuation of government surveillance is that a lot of people feel
that they are always being watched due to common misconceptions about how government
surveillance actually works. The first misconception is that people are randomly chosen and
spied on at random which is just not a reality. In an interview that former New York City Police

Commissioner Ray Kelly did with The Wall Street Journal he describes how the way they picked
out anyone they ever ran surveillance on was because of leads they were given from a person
who contacts the police. If the lead turned up more evidence on a person they would continue
surveillance but if nothing arose from a lead they would stop surveillance immediately. Another
misconception is that all of the data collected on a person is kept by the government forever
which is also untrue, because according to the privacy protections that go along with any
government surveillance " Under Section 702, the NSA must destroy any data collected about
U.S. persons citizens or lawful permanent residents that have nothing to do with foreign
intelligence, a crime or terrorism." (The Washington Post 2013). On top of that NSA officials
have also stated, "Phone data is stored in a separate repository at the NSA that can be accessed
by only 22 specially trained people" (The Washington Post 2013).
In our society we stand against everything modern day terrorists stand for. Hatred is an
emotion that can propel people into a world of chaos and misunderstanding. Hatred is what
caused ISIS and other terrorist groups to expand so rapidly and ignorance is what allowed it to
happen. By not allowing government surveillance we are just being ignorant to how powerful
modern day terrorists actually are. For the first time in my life I turned on the news and saw
members of ISIS riding around in armored tanks and causing destruction. Never in my life before
have I seen any terrorist group with such vast resources and though they do not compare to ours
it still shows they are growing into a much more serious threat. Due to the advances of nuclear
technology the 21st century is a world that can actually end with the pressing of one button.
Though it seems farfetched now I don't think it will be much longer until a terrorist group can
obtain such power. If that happens I don't think there will be a debate on why government

surveillance is a violation of our privacy, but instead I think we will all be saying good bye to
each other and preparing for our inevitable final battle.

Works Cited
"Officials: Surveillance Programs Foiled More than 50 Terrorist Plots." Washington Post. The
Washington Post, 18 June 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
"FBI Director: U.S. at Greatest Threat from Terrorist Groups since 9/11 - CNNPolitics.com."
CNN. Cable News Network, 9 Dec. 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
Mailonline, Flora. "Revealed - How the Threat of ISIS Is Spreading: Extremist Group Has
DOUBLED the Land It Controls in Just a Few Months despite More than 800 Coalition
Airstrikes ." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 17 Jan. 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.