The government makes a lot of choices today that involve actions to spy on people without their consent. Surveillance is used on every single person in the United States, but we didnt ask for it to happen. The government makes the choices for us, and we have to listen, or else we can go to jail or worse. They watch our every move, and they track us with our cellphones. The government today has more power than anything else in the world, just like in 1984. Government surveillance is a problem in todays society, it has flaws, it is abusive and it hurts us, just like the society in George Orwells 1984.

Intelligence is about unearthing that which is willfully concealed(citation) Government spying has been happening since the government first formed, except back then it was only on enemies and with good reason. In the last 60 years it has become something different. When Nixon was president he was caught in the Watergate scandal, but how was he caught? He was bugged without knowing, which means he was under surveillance, so when he said the wrong things everything came crashing down on him and he got impeached. This may seem simple, like a bad guy getting caught, but it was actually a problem with government surveillance. The Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and 9/11--can be traced directly to intelligence failures, and those failures were proximately caused by turf-battling between our two great rival agencies.(citation) The FBI and CIA disagree on what information to get, use, share, and weaponize, which in the long run will hurt us, just like 9/11 for example. Before 1978, surveillance overseas could be ordered by the president without any other approval (citation), which left all the power and decision in the hands of one, which is a recipe for disaster. Recently, the Patriot Act was passed, which makes it now much easier to get surveillance operations authorized. (citation)

The Government is not only stealthy in how they spy on us, but also what they say and how they do it. In a recent European tour, Obama was caught off guard and became extremely defensive when he was asked about new NSA surveillance programs(citation). Our own leader, who we are supposed to trust with our wellbeing, is acting shady and hiding secrets about the spying that is going on. It has been revealed that the NSA stores lots of international data, both phone and internet related, of communications in and out of the U.S. (citation). Not only does this outrage the US, but even Europe is paranoid that our continent is monitoring and collecting all of their actions too, and we are! It is outrageous! Our own VISA court gives thousands of warrants every year for investigation of people on our own soil.(citation) Its absurd that in the land of the free, we are actually anything but.

Our Governments quest for maximum surveillance is costing them errors and tangling them in their own webs and lies. Recently, NPRs Larry Abramson reported that The FBI has made a number of errors during surveillance operations intended to catch terrorists and spies. Newly released documents show that FBI agents often continued wiretapping and physical searches long after legal authorization had expired.(citation) That is also outrageous! The Government is going behind the laws of the Constitution and abusing their power. People are waking up and realizing how government deceit is hurting us. The NSA has done so many unwarranted surveillance sessions, it is becoming an increasing issue in many court cases, and as always, the Government's argument is that the details are too sensitive to be explained (citation). Even Turley claims that since 9/11, the government has been claiming sorry its classified in a growing number of cases(citation). Its the same answer all the time, the Government is allowed to do things that take away our personal freedom and yet they have no one to answer to but themselves, and we still have to answer to them! They are allowed to surveil us and know every bit of personal information and yet we know little to nothing about them or even how they operate and find out about us. It isnt fair, and it causes panic to the people, especially when the majority of US citizens believe the government watches them,

Bibliography

1984 by George Orwell. Orwell, George. 1984. Ed. Erich Fromm. New York: Harcourt, 1949.

"Analysis: Documents suggest FBI violated surveillance rules." All Things Considered 24 Oct. 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

"European Intelligence Agencies Not Surprised by NSA Surveillance." PRI's The World 19 June 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

"Former FISA Judge Questions Court's Approval Of Surveillance." All Things Considered 9 July 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

Government Won't Release NSA Information to Attorneys." All Things Considered 30 Mar. 2006. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

McAdams, A. James. "Spying on terrorists: Germany in comparative perspective (1)." German Politics and Society 25.3 (2007): 70+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

McCarthy, Andrew C. "The intelligence mess: how it happened, what to do about it." Commentary 117.4 (2004): 11+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.