Soboleski 1
Samantha L. Soboleski
Mr. Roesler
English 2 Honors
12 February 2015
National Security vs. Privacy
While researching evidence and texts written about the contrast between national security and privacy, I found a few examples to prove my point of view which will be expressed in this paper.
My evidence is documented from historical context by discussing important events in the United
States history. Recently, our Nation has seen a long series of classified information being stolen causing long lasting harm towards the Unites States. The security measures used today are planned to protect our democracy and liberties, yet they are interfering in personal privacy of the people. Benjamin Franklin (1759), warned us more than two centuries ago: “they that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” My goal in this paper is to get my readers to understand national security is of the up­most importance. A central responsibility of the United States government is to protect its citizens against the threat of terrorism. As americans we value our security and have occasionally sacrificed certain measures to protect it. According to Barbara Walker and Greg Raschke, author of
National
Security for the 21st century,
“The bombings at Oklahoma city, during the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, and at the World Trade Center in New York are reminders of our vulnerability to acts of violence
.
In spite of precautionary measures in place at the time of these incidents, injuries

Soboleski 2 and deaths occurred. In an increasingly global society where individuals and materials move across transparent international borders, the government and its citizenry struggle to find the proper balance between security and civil liberties.”
Our technological advancements in today’s society have enhanced and made our lives easier, but at a cost. These very systems which we rely on so much are responsible for the vulnerability to cyber attacks and other acts of terrorism.
How much personal information does eavesdropping acquire from citizens? Is the information used only to protect against terrorist attacks? How much is too much? According to a liberty vs. security in post­ 9/11 world
(washingtontimes.com), “During World War II, the Roosevelt administration not only interred Americans of German, Japanese and Italian descent purely because of their ethnic background, it did all could given the available technology to monitor mails and tele­communications not just of foreigners but of American citizens they suspected might be a security risk. The cold war brought its own excesses, as officials fearing Soviet infiltrators and spies assembled the foundations of the security apparatus we have today. In each of these eras, the threats we faced were real, but the measures employed to thwart them too often got out of hand.” The question that lawmakers and officials must answer is whether the threats we face today from terrorists are so great, that the constitutional guarantees in the Bill of Rights by the nation’s founders hold back those charged with protecting the American people; or whether it is possible to provide the security needed in the modern world, without fundamentally undermining traditional