Nsa why

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For more information, see our full Privacy Policy. In , the Snowden revelations—many of them reported by then Washington Post reporter, now Century Foundation fellow Barton Gellman—shook the American government at its foundations.

That wave crested in with the passage of the USA Freedom Act, which ended the bulk collection of domestic telephone metadata under the Patriot Act. The wave has more or less dissipated since. But it would be a grave mistake to assume government surveillance is no longer something to worry about. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has signaled even less concern for constitutional norms than his two predecessors, presidents Bush and Obama, under whom the existing surveillance apparatus was built.

Based on her findings, here are ten reasons you should still be worried about NSA spying:. Within the Western Hemisphere, Mexico and Brazil appear to be the main targets of the alleged surveillance efforts. A2: In simplest terms, the alleged targeting of Mexico and Brazil demonstrates the U. That said, that interest may, in fact, end up running counter to recent U. Throughout the period of alleged spying, the U. The reports of U. In response to mounting domestic pressure to push back against what was seen as an overextension of U.

And, weeks later, she used her position as the opening speaker of the UN General Assembly to criticize the United States. Field assignments away from NSA headquarters are available for many employees. Locations include overseas and U. Toggle navigation. Where Intelligence Goes to Work Intelligence. Meaningful Work. Jump to navigation Skip navigation. Disclosures have shown that, until recently, the government regularly tracked the calls of hundreds of millions of Americans.

The Patriot Act has also made it easier for the government to spy on Americans right here at home over the past 15 years. Our Constitution and democratic system demand that government be transparent and accountable to the people, not the other way around. History has shown that powerful, secret surveillance tools will almost certainly be abused for political ends. The ACLU has been at the forefront of the struggle to rein in the surveillance superstructure, which strikes at the core of our rights to privacy, free speech, and association.

In June , The Guardian published documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden confirming the massive scale of this international dragnet. Recent disclosures also show that an unknown number of purely domestic communications are monitored, that the rules that supposedly protect Americans' privacy are weak and riddled with exceptions , and that virtually every email that goes into or out of the United States is scanned for suspicious keywords.