Does Domestic Spying Help the United States?

It’s safe to say the U.S. has experienced an increase in domestic spying. Some argue that an increase in National security is violation of the Fourth Amendment giving citizens the right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. While others argue that having high national security, including domestic spying, prevents situations such as 9/11 from occurring. In the packet Charles Krauthammer argues that domestic spying helps the U.S. and prevents terrorist events from happening. Charles states, “We have not been hit again because we’ve been capturing high-level operatives and getting them to talk in secret prisons, where they’re incommunicado and disoriented and desperate” (229). However he weakens his argument by stating in the first paragraphs how this tramples civil liberties and violates the Constitution, “jeopardizing the very idea of freedom and otherwise destroying all that is sacred in America” (229). And is our security stopping terrorists or are there really no more attacks like 9/11 in the works. The question then would be when is too much? Bob Barr states that domestic spying is snooping and damages our nation. Barr says, “Executive power that could easily be applied to virtually any other area of domestic activity as long as a link to a national security is asserted” (231). Spying or Security could extend to unreasonable amounts and by Executive power our government would be asserting our national security not spying. Everyone has the right under the Constitution to personal property and privacy; our civil liberties should not be taken. However, if we need to stand in line at an airport a few more minutes or place a finger on a scanner in order to clock in, a few minutes of inconvenience should not cause problems. If our National security is increasing in order to prevent events such as 9/11 from happening I believe every American should be more than willing to sacrifice a bit of privacy for their country.