Why Is Government Surveillance Important

Government Surveillance
With the rise of radical terrorism, government surveillance is necessary in keeping the United States safe by preventing and fighting terrorism. Many government surveillance acts provide tools and allow special rules for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to use to fight terror and crime to make the world a safer place. Government surveillance is a controversial topic, Benjamin Franklin himself said that those who give up freedom for security deserve neither. Despite what Benjamin Franklin said, the world has changed and many people want to harm society, from terrorist to criminals, government surveillance is necessary to keep the growing world safe. Government surveillance agencies and acts are made with the
The Patriot Act includes enhanced domestic security, enhanced surveillance, and take down barriers that would slow down terrorism investigation, and improved intelligence. With all these tools and rules combined, law enforcement and intelligence agencies can more quickly respond, prevent and fight terrorism. In addition to acts such as the Patriot Act, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies, the NSA also works to help keep America safe. “The National security Agency (NSA) is the nation’s code breaking and code making organization. It coordinates, directs, and performs specialized and confidential activities to protect U.S information systems and produce information on foreign intelligence” (Stallings). The NSA is the nation’s intelligence agencies that works with other government agencies to help keep America safe. The Patriot Act strengthens the American public’s safety by allowing law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies such as the NSA to have more power in preventing terrorism by making it easier for them to prevent terrorism and enhancing government surveillance. Many lives have been saved thanks to government
John David Ashcroft, the 79th U.S Attorney general said that the patriot act respects people's fourth amendment rights. Ashcroft said the Patriot Act “took down the wall” (Ashcroft: Patriot Act Respects Rights, Improves Security) between the Law enforcement and Intelligence agencies, making it easier for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to communicate together to help prevent terrorism. Ashcroft compared the Patriot Act to a similar process used to take down drug dealers and organized crime “measures like ‘roving wiretaps’ and detaining terrorism suspects without bail” (Ashcroft: Patriot Act Respects Rights; Improves Security) Ashcroft explained that the government will not randomly obtain people’s information, Ashcroft said “if we ever make an inquiry about any kind of record or business record, it has judicial supervision, so that a federal judge would look carefully and simply not allow it if it were not part of a case that merited the involvement of the authorities.” (Ashcroft: Patriot Act Respects Rights, Improves Security). The government under the patriot act will not just randomly search for people’s personal information for no reason, and if the government needs to search for information regarding someone, they have to make sure that it is