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National Security, Ethics and Law

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

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Word Count: 477

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National Security, Ethics and Law

The case selected for this paper revolves around Edward Snowden’s revelations about

how Americans were losing their right to privacy and other civil liberties as a result of more

intrusive National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance programs. The case presents several

ethical issues, which include whether Snowden had a moral obligation to inform the American

public about how the government violated their privacy and if the American government had a

moral obligation to prevent terrorism and enhance the security of Americans by eavesdropping

on their private communications (Starr & Yan, 2013). The legal issues involved include whether

the American government went against the First Amendment rights by violating the privacy of

Americans, if Snowden’s actions of leaking classified documents violated the Espionage Act of

1917, and whether the surveillance law was just and constitutional (Maniam, 2016).

Snowden’s case presents several privacy concerns. First, it highlights how NSA

surveillance programs provide an enabling environment for the American government to destroy

the privacy, Internet freedom, and basic liberties of Americans domestically and globally (Starr

& Yan, 2013). A second privacy concern embeds in the fact that the surveillance programs

reported by Snowden were being conducted without the knowledge and consent of the American

public. A third privacy concern relates to the trade-off between privacy in the digital age and the

need to be proactive in data collection and surveillance to prevent Americans from terrorism and

adverse outcomes (Pujol, 2020). Several issues about the case relate to national security, which

include Snowden’s act of breaking serious professional obligations by stealing and disclosing

classified documents, undermining crime-fighting efforts and foreign relations vigilantism, and

causing harm to national security interests by disclosing secrets to third parties and leaking

classified information on government operations (Blusiewicz, 2014; Pujol, 2020).

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Lastly, one of the broader issues of the case revolves around understanding the trade-offs

between privacy and civil liberties on the one hand and national security interests, on the other.

A second broader issue relates to the ethical and legal implications of disclosing classified

information to third-parties. My perspective on the trade-off issue is that guaranteeing individual

privacy and individual liberties is as important as protecting Americans from terrorism through

targeted surveillance. Since terrorists are increasingly using the Internet to target Americans, a

need exists for national security agencies to continue undertaking surveillance and data mining

without undermining the privacy and civil liberties of Americans. Such a feat, in my view, could

be achieved by imposing certain restrictions to control what data should and should not be mined

or extracted from an individual’s emails, personal communications, and Internet-based

interactions. There is also a need for the American government and other interested players to

implement a system of checks and balances with the view to ensuring that surveillance programs

and data mining practices are not abused and are adequately regulated and controlled.
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References

Blusiewicz, J. (2014). The case of Edward Snowden: A different path. Cornell International

Affairs Review, 8(1), 1-10.

Maniam, S. (2016). Americans feel the tensions between privacy and security concerns. Pew

Research Center. Retrieved 11 Aug. 2022, from

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/19/americans-feel-the-tensions-between-

privacy-and-security-concerns/

Pujol, J. (2020). Is this the end of privacy? Snowden and the power of conscience. Church,

Communications and Culture, 5(1), 140-144.

Starr, B., & Yan, H. (2013). Man behind NSA leaks says he did it to safeguard privacy, liberty.

CNN. Retrieved 11 Aug. 2022, from https://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/10/politics/edward-

snowden-profile/