The government’s surveillance programs have infiltrated most of the communications technologies that our society relies on. 8 While the NSA is officially a public agency, it has numerous overlapping partnerships with private sector corporations, such as Northrop Grumman, as well as Booz Allen Hamilton, for whom Edward Snowden worked. 7 On the other hand, the FBI is the intelligence and law enforcement agency responsible for understanding threats to national security and restricting actions intended to harm the United States. spying agency that collects, analyzes, and disseminates information regarding foreign nations that is gathered through signals and human intelligence sources. 6 The Agency distinguishes itself from other government security and intelligence agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) through primarily gathering information through electronic sources. The Agency is additionally responsible for preventing foreign attackers from gaining access to imperative classified security information. The National Security Agency (NSA) is a government agency responsible for collecting, intercepting, processing, and disseminating intelligence information from electronic sources for national foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes. 5 The question becomes whether national security is more important than citizen privacy, and where the limits, if any, should be drawn. government view whistleblowers, such as Edward Snowden, as criminals, while those who support citizen privacy and governmental honesty see the whistleblowers as heroes. Those who support the massive powers of the U.S. citizens without requiring individual warrants and without probably cause. Such information released by whistleblowers, particularly Edward Snowden, has drawn public attention and controversy to the NSA’s system of collecting data from private communications of both non- U.S. Snowden and his supporters argue that the NSA violated the United States Constitution through engaging in mass surveillance of American citizens. 3 Finally, former National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, was charged with theft of government property, as well as “unauthorized communication of national defense information” and “willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person,” under the Espionage Act in 2013. Espionage Act, for releasing government documents to WikiLeaks in 2010. 2 In 2013 Manning was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges he faced, mostly for espionage, theft and fraud, as well as violations of the U.S. policy in Vietnam, 1 and was sentenced to 105 years in prison for theft and espionage, but was freed after a mistrial. During the 1970s, Ellsberg leaked top-secret Pentagon Papers detailing the history of U.S. Some consider these individuals to be whistleblowers based on their actions that revealed secret government behavior to the public. Is a government whistleblower a hero or traitor? Consider three famous cases of Daniel Ellsberg, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden.
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Finally, a recommendation for how to approach the government surveillance versus citizen privacy debate will be provided. Edward Snowden is not protected for his release of government documents. Additionally, the laws and amendments that do or do not protect government whistleblowers will be explained, as will the reason for which Mr. The laws and policies, such as The Patriot Act and The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorize the government to perform such actions, will be discussed in depth. This paper will explain the purpose and responsibilities of the NSA and other intelligence agencies, as well as PRISM, the program through which the NSA collects the digital communications and information of individuals. There has been significant attention given to the National Security Agency’s (NSA) system of collecting the communications of both United States citizens and non- U.S. Information released by “whistleblower” Edward Snowden in June 2013 has drawn public attention and controversy to the question of whether national security is more important than citizen privacy. The NSA and Other Intelligence Agencies………………………………….5 Edward Snowden- Legally not a Whistleblower.The Fight Against Governmental Authority.The NSA and Other Intelligence Agencies.