Novice Tournament Finals: NSA Spying is Beneficial to the US.

Many thanks to MyDinosaurHands. Resolved: NSA Spying is Beneficial to the US. The NSA's surveillance effort is limited in its scope. Allow me to begin this debate by clarifying what the NSA actually does. Primarily, the NSA is tasked with analyzing foreign data transfers to prevent and mitigate national security threats, and to protect US government electronic infrastructure (1). When investigating domestic data transfers, such as phone calls and internet records, the NSA is legally bound to, as per the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, obtain a warrant for any data collection. The surveillance request must be presented to a United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA), where an independent panel of judges analyzes the requests on a case by case basis and offers warrants in situations where there exists a national security threat (2). Additionally, the NSA has access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants in accordance with Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. However, the NSA is legally barred from "unilaterally obtaining information from the servers of [domestic] electronic communication service providers" or "monitoring the substance of US citizens' communications without a warrant." Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Apple have also released statements confirming that they only release user information pursuant to that required by law according to due process. (3). Moreover, the data that is actually collected in NSA wiretaps and surveillance efforts is minimal, to say the least. Despite the common misconception, the NSA does not actually have access to phone records or conversations without a warrant (4). Instead, what the NSA views is metadata, or "data about data." This metadata records information such as call length, relative location of the callers, and the numbers involved, while not actually saving the content of the call. Only when a red flag has been raised and the case is approved by a FISA court can actual human interaction be observed. In 2008, the National Security Agency released a 52 page framework outlining Constitutional basis for their operations. Since then, a plethora of state and federal judges have ruled the program legal, and lawsuits against the NSA from groups such as the ACLU have been dropped (5). Journalist Hendrick Hertzberg argues: "The threat that the NSA poses to civil liberties is abstract, conjectural, unspecified. In the seven years the programs have been in place in roughly their present form, no citizen’s freedom of speech, expression, or association has been abridged by them in any identifiable way... They have not put the lives of tens of millions of Americans under “surveillance” as that word is commonly understood." As Hetzberg explains, the program operates strictly within the confines of the law, and as of right now, there is absolutely zero verifiable evidence that any laws are being broken or power is being abused. The NSA's surveillance effort protects national security. Legal, warranted monitoring of phone records is a vital tool in the fight against terror. In the words of the former NSA Director Keith Alexander, "Since 9/11, these programs, together with other intelligence, have protected the U.S. and our allies from terrorist threats across the globe to include helping prevent potential terrorist events over 50 times." He goes on to say that “Those 50 cases right now have been looked at by the FBI, CIA and other partners within the community, and the National Counterterrorism Center is validating all the points so that you know that what we've put in there is exactly right... while there are reasons to be concerned about secrecy... but there are also reasons to remain calm." (6). These figures show that the NSA programs are a key component of our counterterrorism efforts, helping develop intelligence about terrorists operating within their borders. One specific example of this occurred with the terrorist group known as “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” or AQAP. In May 2012, a suicide-bomber plot against an airliner headed for the U.S., believed to be orchestrated by AQAP, was foiled when U.S. authorities obtained the planned explosive device. The stopping of the plot was cited as being due to US intelligence agencies such as the NSA (4). There is consensus that, prior to the Pearl Harbor attacks, as well September 11th, 2001, there were significant deficits as far as intelligence capacity and analysis within the federal government. According to the Washington Post, “If surveillance programs had been in place before the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States would probably have known that hijacker Khalid Muhammad Abdallah al-Mihdhar was in San Diego and communicating with a known al Qaeda safehouse in Yemen.” (6,7). The fact of the matter is, we live in a world where there are armed groups of individuals who seek to kill as many innocent Americans as possible. September 11th was a tragic example of this. But, with the proper checks, some of which are already in place, the National Security Agency can be an effective means of mitigating terrorism and saving American lives. Thank you, and I look forward to reading my opponent’s arguments. Sources [1]http://www.nsa.gov... [2]http://www.pbs.org... [3]http://www.dni.gov... [4]http://online.wsj.com... [5]http://www.newyorker.com... [6]http://www.washingtonpost.com... [7]http://www.washingtonspectator.org...