Political Improv 6/20/2013 National Security Leaks: A Case of Culture Warp © Donna White-Davis 2013 Use of new technology to access data, record data, share data, and use data in national security issues is really at issue not the behavior of an individual. That fact that technology has advanced beyond the current state of our laws to balance the rights of the citizens with the needs for security is at issue. Yes Congress should look into it. Yes the President should be accountable. Yes the National Security Administration should be investigated. All needs to be updated, balanced and improved. Innovations in society do that to cultures. It happened when the Guttenberg press was invented. Knowledge, as politicians know, is power. Access to knowledge changes power structures in societies. We know that from history. The problem is we haven’t adjusted fast enough to the new technologies to balance that new power in society. It happened in the Wiki-Leaks issue, which I earlier addressed. I stated, and I believe it applies in this case as well, that I don’t not know the legalities involved in detail. I do know that if you have a trust with those you have a contract with, to break that trust is illegal –or at least unethical. The illegalities call into the debate legal investigations from all sides of the security community. Everyone is demanding of everyone else accountability and prosecution. It makes the citizen feel as if something is being done when in fact we do not yet have laws that even begin to balance the use of new communication technologies. We also have a burgeoning security industry that has swelled the ranks of the CIA, FBI, NEA(35,000 employees with a $10,000,000,000 –by the way that is about $3,000,000 per employee even with the cost of technology that is a heck of a lot of computers etc. per person) budget even with technology where does all that money go?)National Intelligence Program and the Military Intelligence Program combined total 80 billion dollars. Homeland Security at $43 billion. A good bit but when compared to the trillions of dollars spent in our budget around 10%. (see Facebook article reference for actual numbers). So we have one ,two ,or three men, knowing the new technology getting into the business of government and citizens with the field being questionable as to whether it is illegal or not. THAT is the place where government has to address the issue, study and write the law and hope against all hope, balance the needs of a free democratic republic with the needs to keep that democratic republic secure. Beyond that we still have a Spy vs. Spy atmosphere with Congress supporting some groups, the President beefing up their groups and all of the good men and women in this morass trying to find the bad guys while they all play politics without lives. So yes investigate, but by all means look at what you are doing , what you need to know to catch the bad guys, and how to protect not only the citizens of our democratic republics but our citizens rights and protection under the law. I am afraid the argument given before Congress for the need for surveillance is not quite in balance. Surely we need not only boots on the ground but well-heeled feet, minds and bodies out of the office away from the computers on the ground because actually that IS where the intelligence information still comes from. Spy vs. Spy The technology is a means for finding the problems. There are many variables to determining where a problem is as proven by the examples given before Congress of cases tracked through media. Each and every one of those mentions had the same variables even with changed names. And that leads to the second legal lapse, perhaps the most significant in the 911 attack. People are allowed in without defined sponsors being held responsible for their behavior, citizenship education and supervision as intended even under the current Immigration laws. People should have known BEFORE their ideas became an internet e-mail that there was a shift. Indeed in the recent cases that was the case. The technology is merely a tracking communication system. With the money in the Intelligence field PEOPLE still are the best variable for determining security risks. That has in the past been ignored and we cannot fail to pay attention to that in this issue. Illegally or not, those three young technology savvy men have merely pointed out the gaps. Unfortunately they have also pointed it out to those who may want to harm our citizens. As citizens, I have to emphasize, that we have a responsibility also. What happened to “Loose Lips Sink Ships?” I was criticized for asking those in the State department embarrassed about wiki leaked e-mails calling world leaders names, State department employees gossiping behind issues with each other and general acting in a irresponsible way with the communication technology that has evolved. Each and every citizen has now become aware of the risks of communication technology and also has the RESPONSIBILITY to guard their information. The higher professional the greater the necessity whether it is in government or politics. Confidentiality was and is a criterion in my profession as educator and therapist. I had to be responsible about what I wrote and discussed out of common decency for those I served. That point my fellow citizens is the one crucial to maintaining our security. Citizen responsibility. It hasn’t changed. One merely has to read history to realize that a loose tongue or finger on a keyboard can ruin reputations, harm citizens’ lives and reputations, and put others at risks. Perhaps that as much as any investigation of the process should be taught now during this moment of crisis. We have forgotten that WE have control over the data we choose to give or not give. The blame, my fellow citizen’s is neither in the technology, nor the intelligence but in our selves.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:29:22 +0000
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