At a time when the trust in the government is extremely, the government is not backing down as scandal after scandal emerges to showcase the corrupt, unconstitutional and immoral means by which the federal government maintains control over the people. In fact, far from apologizing for the betrayals of the public’s trust, the Obama Administration has thrown another log onto the fire of public outrage. According to a Reuters report, the Obama Administration is considering granting the Department of Homeland Security the same kind of powers the NSA has used to monitor the phone usage of millions of Americans who have done nothing more to arouse suspicion than use a cell phone. The Department of Homeland Security has continually sought jurisdiction in national cybersecurity issues, much to the chagrin of the NSA, an information-gathering organization with no law enforcement capabilities. The DHS, however, maintains law enforcement capabilities and can arrest citizens, unlike the NSA. In an interview on Friday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano claimed, “I think people have gotten the idea that there’s an Orwellian state out there that somehow we’re operating in. That’s far from the case.” Though Napolitano and others in the Obama Administration have worked to assuage fears amongst Americans by claiming that there is continual oversight to the FISA warrants used to gather information, the courts have approved 99.97% of all FISA warrant requests. As the NSA and the DHS have continually battled over the right to control cybersecurity protocols, Republicans, conservatives and many civil libertarians have maintained that neither organization is fully qualified to be the overseers of electronic communications and have feared that the government would too-readily overstep the bounds of Constitutional protections and violate citizens’ right to privacy. With the recent NSA domestic spying scandal, it seems that those who were previously called paranoid might have, in fact, been vindicated as the NSA has been routinely monitoring the electronic communications of millions of Americans. While the domestic spying scandal might not be enough to paint a picture of tyranny for some, the NSA scandal fits into a broader narrative when discussed alongside the other numerous scandals that haunt this administration. According to a recent CNN poll, nearly half of Americans believe that the Obama Administration tasked the IRS with harassing tea party and conservative political groups. 55% claim that the IRS scandal is “a very important issue,” indicating that trust in this administration is falling as only 37% believed last month that the White House was behind the IRS targeting of political groups. At a time when the federal government should be offering profuse apologies and issuing ironclad assurances that these kinds of thug tactics will no longer be used to maintain power, the Obama Administration has remained cagey on discussing the IRS harassment and has blamed not the NSA’s policy, but the whistleblower, Edward Snowden, for riling public anger. Americans have much to fear from this government and as citizens vent their outrage, the Obama Administration maintains its prohibition on retreating and is now considering offering the same illegitimate and repugnant powers of the NSA to the DHS, an organization that can arrest citizens. tpnn/big-brother-is-listening-granting-dhs-domestic-spying-capabilities-will-open-citizens-to-arrest/
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:10:26 +0000
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