"The American people must be willing to give up a degree of personal privacy in exchange for safety and security.".
- Louis Freeh .
In the novel "1984," by George Orwell, the author depicts a dystopian society where the citizens have no free will. They are neither safe nor free in a totalitarian government. After 9/11 and the Boston marathon, many are concerned for their welfare in the United States. Although, some argue that the government is taking privacy away, there cautionary measures are used to catch terrorists and prevent future attacks. .
Even though the authorities may discover private information, they do not listen in on personal phone calls. Obama informs that the security system sifts through meta data to ensure there are no suspicious activities within the United States. This can give leads to the government as to the people involved with terrorism. To add on, he states that "nobody is listening to your phone calls", the intelligence in charge look at the names, phone numbers and the duration of the phone call. Additionally, to listen in on a phone call, a federal judge must approve first. This new technology can help prevent oncoming terrorist attacks and in doing so will save many lives. Moreover, Obama defends the NSA by saying, "We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information not just in the United States, but, in some cases, threats here in Germany. So lives have been saved." This proves that the NSA program is effective on preventing terrorist activity and saving lives.
An article by Sebastian Rotella depicts how the NSA tracked emails from extremists who were ready to bomb the West. The extremists claimed to have killed U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. In November 2008, with the help of the NSA's intel, U.S. and Pakistani agents were able to arrest an Al-Qaeda militant. NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander announces that his agency's surveillance program has stopped more than 50 terrorist plots.
