01-29-2014, 04:34 PM
Is it really surprising that the US is spying on anyone and everyone?
Let's just think about this for a second. We have
FBI
CIA
Secret Service
NSA
U.S. Marshall's Service
ATF
DEA
DHS
as the alphabet soup of the Federal Government's law enforcement / non military wing.
Now, they are all supposed to have different jobs, doing different things, but the one thing that all of them have in common, is that they do, even if in limited scope, have a tendency to become embroiled in affairs outside the country.
We have bought into (the people being "we" here) a cycle of perpetual fearmongering by our government, dating back to at least to the end of WWII, when the Cold War got going, and we had to make sure that we were one up on "those damn dirty commies".
The only thing that is shocking to me about this, is that people are surprised that it happened. And with the internet, and all the technology at the public's disposal, it's not surprising to me to read what goes on and what happens.
That doesn't mean I'm ok with it. Far from it. I really detest a lot of the spying / intelligence gathering that the government does in the name of national security. But, the questions comes in:
What do we need to know?
Who makes that decision?
Obviously, if it is related to "spying" and "intelligence gathering" it's not something that you can put to a vote. At that point, it's worthless to try and spy, if you are just going to announce that you are going to spy to the public.
and Dilensey,
I'm really surprised that you would choose to point a finger at the Secret Service. THat's... not really the secret service's job. In the list of Federal Agencies that have corruption problems, the Secret Service is pretty far down the list. They make headlines for hiring hookers. Other than that, they protect dignitaries, the president, and oversea things related to currency and coinage (counterfitting, etc..)
The Secret Service, while not perfect is not the poster child for problems in the Government. That would be the NSA, and DHS, for completely different reasons. The NSA is that creepy bastard in the van, who will toss a sack over your head, and run you off into hiding.
The DHS is the epitome of red tape, and excessive red tape.
Let's just think about this for a second. We have
FBI
CIA
Secret Service
NSA
U.S. Marshall's Service
ATF
DEA
DHS
as the alphabet soup of the Federal Government's law enforcement / non military wing.
Now, they are all supposed to have different jobs, doing different things, but the one thing that all of them have in common, is that they do, even if in limited scope, have a tendency to become embroiled in affairs outside the country.
We have bought into (the people being "we" here) a cycle of perpetual fearmongering by our government, dating back to at least to the end of WWII, when the Cold War got going, and we had to make sure that we were one up on "those damn dirty commies".
The only thing that is shocking to me about this, is that people are surprised that it happened. And with the internet, and all the technology at the public's disposal, it's not surprising to me to read what goes on and what happens.
That doesn't mean I'm ok with it. Far from it. I really detest a lot of the spying / intelligence gathering that the government does in the name of national security. But, the questions comes in:
What do we need to know?
Who makes that decision?
Obviously, if it is related to "spying" and "intelligence gathering" it's not something that you can put to a vote. At that point, it's worthless to try and spy, if you are just going to announce that you are going to spy to the public.
and Dilensey,
I'm really surprised that you would choose to point a finger at the Secret Service. THat's... not really the secret service's job. In the list of Federal Agencies that have corruption problems, the Secret Service is pretty far down the list. They make headlines for hiring hookers. Other than that, they protect dignitaries, the president, and oversea things related to currency and coinage (counterfitting, etc..)
The Secret Service, while not perfect is not the poster child for problems in the Government. That would be the NSA, and DHS, for completely different reasons. The NSA is that creepy bastard in the van, who will toss a sack over your head, and run you off into hiding.
The DHS is the epitome of red tape, and excessive red tape.
nobody ever slaughtered an entire school with a smart phone and a twitter account – they have, however, toppled governments. - Jim Wright