The decrease in personal privacy started after World War II and was at its peak during the Nixon Administration. "In fact, the development of a law of national security secrecy and surveillance, and its steady erosion of the First and Fourth Amendments, has accelerated in the post-Watergate era."(10, McCuen). In 1971 Nixon Administration went to court to stop New York Times from publishing the Pentagon Papers. Although Nixon Administration lost, new principles were established. The first one is that certain information can be blocked from publication. The second one is that congress can pass a restraint on certain publication. This led to a new principle followed by many agencies. The principle is as follows "agencies can bar a current or former employee from publishing any information or material relating to the agency, its activities or intelligence activities generally, either during or after the term of [his or her] employment without specific prior approval of the agency."(11, McCuen). Contracts were being made such that if you agree to work for a certain agency, you automatically lose the rights to First Amendment.
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.
