Topic: In Support of US Spying Defense

US Spying Defense, including data surveillance programs, is invaluable to our country.  It protects American citizens each day from terrorist attacks and provides necessary information to our country’s security.   As Siobhan Gorman reports for The Wall Street Journal, “Security Chief Says Surveillance Foiled More than 50 Plots” (Gorman and Hughes).  In other words, there have been at least 50 plots against America that have been stopped due to top of the line data surveillance programs.  The fact that these foiled attacks have even occurred is shocking, but the question of whether or not these programs should be maintained is even more shocking. 

           

            Looking back at history, the innovation of using spies and the idea of espionage during the Cold War and World War II greatly affected the safety and privacy of civilians, the outcome of these two wars, and had an influence on other countries.

Spies have been around forever, even in little things such as eavesdropping on people in the next room could be considered spying. The first record of spying was from 1800 BC, clay tablet from Hammurabi, and the first manual on spy tactics was written over 2,000 years ago.

Flash forward to the 21st century.  Spying is still apparent in society today. However, it has changed since the Cold War and World War II. Today, it is shown through terrorism and the internet. The more connected terrorists are with other countries around the world the more empowered they are. Over the years, there have been many examples of how major government situations with terrorists happened through the internet. For example, one called Titan Rain involved Chinese hackers accessing classified materials at Lockheed Martin Corporation and NASA. Another, now called Moonlight Maze, refers to when data was stolen from the computers of the United States department of Defense, Department of Energy, weapons laboratories, and NASA. These two examples show that spies have the ability to access nearly anything through the internet, and if this information enters the wrong hands, it can cause a major government issue. More violent forms of terrorism, such as 911, are changing society even more. They have reshaped many aspects of our government, such as the security of the country. As said by the CIA director James Woolsey about terrorism and Soviet Union demise in 1991, “We have slain a large dragon, but we now live in a jungle filled with bewildering varieties of poisonous snakes. And in many ways, the dragon was easier to keep track of”(Sixteenth DCI, R. James). Woolsey was saying that previously we were being attacked by just one main source of terrorism, the Soviet Union, but now the threat of terrorism comes from multiple countries and groups of people, and this is much worse.

Currently, the use of data surveillance is something the United States can’t live without.  As the threats to the United States have grown into more complicated scenarios, the US spies and security agencies must keep up with current technological advances.  Without the use of surveillance programs, our county will be under constant terrorist attacks and we won’t be able to keep up with the terrorists who are out to destroy us.

 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324520904578553302776398828.html

Gorman, Siobhan, and Siobhan Hughes. "Officials Amp Up Spying Defense." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 18 June 2013. Web. 18 June 2013. <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324520904578553302776398828.html>.

"Sixteenth DCI, R. James Woolsey R. James Woolsey: Uncompromising Defender." Central Intelligence Agency. CIA, 27 June 2008. Web. 19 June 2013. <https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/directors-of-central-intelligence-as-leaders-of-the-u-s-intelligence-community/chapter_12.htm>.