I am one of what seems to be the majority of Americans who is not outraged at the government 'spying' on my communications. IMO, the Boston bombing proves that surveillance helps to at least catch criminals and terrorists, if not always prevent their actions. Frankly, I don't see privacy in this sense as such a big deal. Just the keeping of this information doesn't bother me.
What does concern me is what might be done with the information at some later time. President Obama has established some safeguards, filing for warrants where Bush refused to and keeping Congress informed. This is important. It's true that future presidents could fail to do this, or even go farther in the misuse of this information.
For that reason, we need to establish limits on these programs. This is the responsibility of our legislative body. And this can be done without dismantling the necessary information gathering to keep us safe.
Another thing that concerns me is the obviously overbroad issuance of security clearances. Serious reforms need to be made in this area.
I have heard many make the claim that the American people need to make the decisions of what kind of security programs we have. Oddly, I hear no one say that if the American people know about all the security programs we have, everyone in the world will have the ability to know as well. What's the point of a security program if everyone knows about it? The global nature of information and communication today mandates that the American people NOT know about some, perhaps many, programs. I understand that and I am fine with it.
As long as it is overseen by all three branches of the government and not misused.
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