This of course brings up many privacy issues. A person can ask himself, is there any privacy left in this world? There are cameras everywhere; N.S.A. can intercept your phone calls and your e-mails. Your activities on the road, or on the internet can all be tracked. You can easily say that the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment and the Privacy Act are violated. The First Amendment states that

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,

“The National Security Agency is the Nation's cryptologic organization. It coordinates, directs, and performs highly specialized activities to protect U.S. information systems and produce foreign intelligence information. A high technology organization, NSA is on the frontiers of communications and data processing. It is also one of the most important centers of foreign language analysis and research within the Government.”

There have been many cases, which clearly show how our privacy and the First and the Fourth Amendment are violated. The government can issue an order to any of its intelligence agencies to spy on any law-abiding citizen of the Unites States of America. It has already done so in many instances under almost every president. Besides, the technology today is so powerful that no matter where we are we can be spied on by the N.S.A. and its Echelon system. Don’t be surprised if one day there will be a camera installed in your house and the number 1984 will be the most meaningful number in your life.

Almost every president since Franklin Roosevelt has conducted warrantless wiretaps of foreign governments and their establishments. Nixon, however, went even farther. The Nixon Administration argued that it had the power to ignore the Fourth Amendment if the person in question was believed to be a threat to national security. The argument was brought to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Unanimously with the Supreme court such actions were reproached. However, the court did leave the possibility of wiretapping a person or group with “foreign ties”. This, of course, was abused greatly. For example, the CIA established “Operation CHAOS” which spied on Anti-Vietnam War movement. CIA supposedly believed that there was a link between the leaders of the movement and foreign governments. The program collected more than 300,000 files on domestic activists. No link between foreign government and the activists was ever discovered. Reagan released an order, which allowed surveillance of “anyone inside the United States who may be in possession of “significant foreign intelligence” such as journalist or academics or businessmen returning from trips overseas” (14, McCuen). The U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights exposed the spying of the military on civilians. The Military Intelligence kept thousands of records on potential “dissidents”. This committee also reported that “fifty-four federal agencies operated no fewer than 858 databanks that contained more than a billion separate records on American citizens.” (161, Sykes). It should also be pointed out that most of the data was collected without any legal authorization.

supported by oath or affirmation, and

Some topics in this essay:
Security Agency, White House, Nixon Administration, Britain Echelon, Military Intelligence, Privacy Act, Fourth Amendment, Anti-Vietnam War, Agency Nation's, Sykes FBI, national security, fourth amendment, national security agency, security agency, nixon administration, phone calls, intelligence agency, intelligence agencies, privacy act, fourth amendment privacy, cold war, weaken privacy security, nsa huge, amendment privacy act, american civil liberties,