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
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