Several German publications reported recently that the NSA has been tapping the phone of the German Chancellor. They went on to state that President Obama had been given this information and had done nothing about it. When James Clapper the head of the NSA was questioned about this he responded unapologetic that this is one of the basic pillar's of American intelligence.
The real issue here is not espionage involving foreign allied officials but the surveillance of their citizens. Gen. Keith Alexander when confronted on the need for oversight of these extensive programs stated "It is much more important for this country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a program that would result in this nation being attacked". This is the normal rhetoric that comes from Washington when asked about invading our privacy. It is always in the name of national security.
One might ask themselves, if we are not doing much here about the NSA watching us when will be time for the American citizens to protest? Waschinski of Yahoo states ” But Alexander made no apology for the NSA's activities and reiterated his denial that the secretive agency was scooping up millions of phone records from French and other European citizens”.
Has the United States gone too far? There may come a point where another country will not accept this and it could start a war. There is a simple solution here and a fine line between invading privacy and protecting the national security of the United States. Waschinski went on to state, “And, in another embarrassing chapter for Washington, the United Nations said it had received an assurance that US agencies would not bug its secret communications in the future. Conspicuously, the United States could not promise the world body it had not been spied upon in the past.”
We are beginning to cross that line and there must come a time where the citizens stand up to stop a possible war that the NSA may cause. I for one do not want to be involved in another war or spied on. On the other hand I want the United States to keep us as safe as possible and there may be no other way to do that.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/30/us/politics/u-s-intelligence-officials-defend-surveillance-operations-on-capitol-hill.html
http://news.yahoo.com/european-spy-services-shared-phone-data-us-nsa-185616676.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/30/us-usa-security-nsa-idUSBRE99S03N20131030
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/politics/nsa-hearing/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/10/28/report-nsa-spain/3284609/
