On Surveillance and Freedom.

The following article was submitted by Joseph R. Zelaskowski.

As we celebrate this nation's 237th birthday and the liberty which that birthday created we are aware of the recent revelations unveiled by former NSA employee Edward Snowden.  The subsequent attempt by the US government to bring him to justice forces us to consider the principles which our nation is founded upon.

Firstly, it should be asked, what did Snowden's leak reveal?  Did he uncover agents in the field or their activities?  No! Did he uncover war operations? No! What did he uncover?  The answer is simple, the extent to which our National Security Agency operates a surveillance of American and foreign citizens.  The NSA collects the metadata which amongst other things describes the nature of communications, including email, phone calls, text messages, the sender's IP address and it's recipient IP address.  If the NSA is suspicious and confirms that the sender is from a US registered IP address it will seek a warrant from the congressionally created foreign intelligence surveillance court.  What is especially notable is the fact that since it's creation in 1978 FISA court, remaining largely out of the public eye, has almost never denied such a warrant.  Such unrestricted power makes for quite a dangerous concoction.

If anything Snowden provided the American people with the very thing the Obama administration had promised to procure, government transparency.  Now that he leaked the information he has had to flee the country and hide at a Moscow airport.

With another passing July 4th can one honestly say that in the year 2013 the rule of law still prevails?  Does it prevail when the federal government can insdiscriminately collect and store information relating to citizen telecommunication records?  Does it prevail when the FISA court has virtually never denied the executive branch unprecedented authority to spy not only on foreign nations but even it's own people?

The fourth amendment makes it explicitly clear.
      The right of the people to be secure in their persons,    
       houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable 
       searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no 
       warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, 
       supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly
       describing the place to be searched, and the persons
       or things to be seized.

Should modern means of communication be made exempt from constitutional protection?  Isn't the indiscriminate collection and storage of such communications without a proper warrant a clear fourth amendment violation?  Senator Rand Paul has recently made clear his intentions to bring the NSA before the Supreme Court and demand an end to such surveillance.  Unfortunately, the Court's decision in "Clapper v. Amnesty International" seems to preclude any chance for Senator Paul's suit to succeed.

However, it should not matter if the Supreme Court does not act.  The people should make it clear to Congress that
executive powers must be severely pruned.  The sacrifice of
liberty for security is neither noble nor necessary.  Cicero expressed his concerns with government expansion during wartime: "Silent enim leges inter arma."  For among arms the laws are silent.  How right he was.  What we should be doing this Fourth of July is thanking Edward Snowden and people like him for reminding us why our nation was founded.  We must ask ourselves what kind of government do we wish to have, one that upholds the law or one that actively and shamelessly subverts it.