National Security Vs. Personal Privacy - Where Is the Line Drawn?

Abstract

The issue of National Security vs. Personal Privacy has been around for ages, but only since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 has this topic become a main point of interest in many fields including Aviation since as we now know, terrorists will not stop until many more aircrafts are crashed and many more Americans die as a result. This paper will present arguments for and against national security and personal safety, the government point of view and its regulations, as well as a closer look at where the line should be drawn between both sides.

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 were heinous in nature, abruptly causing the deaths of around 3,000 people as well as many subsequent deaths experienced by the United States military on what was declared a war on terrorism following this tragic day on 2001. But the wounds to this country go deeper than what was observed that day. Hijackers were able to live, train and even plan this event on American soil(9/11 attacks), making its people not only the target, but also placing National Security and Personal Privacy on very shaky grounds. From that day forth, the government has sworn to protect the United States, which at times, citizens have found includes sacrificing personal privacy in order to stay safe.

In recent years; events in which personal privacy has been questioned include wire taping, internet surveillance, extensive pat downs and full body scanners at airports. Under the George W. Bush administration and onto Barack Obama's current presidential term, warrantless wiretapping has been conducted, targeting terrorists in the United States while also affecting innocent civilians. Because much of the communication done between terrorists during the 9/11 attacks were done in the United States, the government is now placing national security above personal privacy. Though Obama's administration has made warrantless wiretapping more legal as it was not the case under Bush administration since it bluntly violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, this administration also has work to extend wiretapping to social network, communication channels such as Skype and transmitters such as smart phones or Blackberries ("Wiretapping and others").

The creation, extension and support of the Patriot Act of 2001 have taken over the privacy vs. security debate. In short, The Patriot Act of 2001 or "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act" (Mitrano, 2001) was created in order to give government agencies and law enforcement the ability to work together in order to gather intelligence information from wiretaps, internet, as well as financial institutions ("Uniting and Strengthening). It also encourages the private sector to share information with authorities and it requires institutions of any kinds to keep investigatory means under need to know basis. (Mitrano, 2011)

As presented by a former AT&T technician, the US Patriot Act allows the National Security Agency to intercept communication between millions of American by splitting the information into a secured room able to process and stored large amount of data, which is only accessed by NAS personnel, without interruption of phone calls or knowledge of the split ("AT&tT's role in dragnet,"). The process is depicted on the image below:

In this case, it is obvious that National Security is now far more important than personal privacy. The majority of Americans are not guilty of any crimes, much less crimes involving terrorist attacks but in the effort to find the few Americans or foreigners who may be orchestrating the next attack, the majority of individuals have to unknowingly give up their privacy to maintain our nation safe. Furthermore, companies, such as AT&T, must cooperate with the government in order to possibly avoid future terrorist attacks. Human resource department must work hand in hand with the government in order to execute wiretapping or any surveillance orders while maintaining full secrecy, and they also have to work diligently in order to provide authorities with any and all files required for investigations. Even universities throughout the United States who were used to protecting students privacy at all cause are now affected by these regulations and must be well informed as to what information is still protected under previous laws and what information can be disclosed. "The Patriot Act provides new procedure to obtain an order for release of otherwise protected information" (Lombart). Unfortunately, several hijackers may have been trained in universities in the United States, making surveillance of educational institutions imperative in the fight against terrorism.

The effects of all the changes brought on by the now prioritization of national security over personal safety are most felt in the field which saw the hardest hits during 9/11; the aviation field. Since the hijackers were able to obtain flight training, board aircrafts armed and highjack planes that were later crashed into several sites, security measures at airports were substantially strengthens, again targeting not only possible terroristic threats, but the majority to travelers who may not have anything to do with Al Qaeda or any other organization of that sort.

Prior to 9/11, Americans were accustomed to having their bags and their bodies scanned by x-rays machines by private companies supervised by the Federal Aviation Association in order to ensure safety in flight. After 9/11, the methods used by the Transportation Security Administration start with every passenger; child, adult or elder, removing their shoes to be scanned for explosives materials, and then a full body scan and/or a full body pat down by the TSA staff. If x-rays of bags reveal liquid containers holding more than 3.4 ounces, then those are thrown out immediately. Also any liquid below that size must be in a plastic bag in order to make it into the plane (Woodruff, 2011).

Though the necessity for these procedures have been demonstrated not only by the actions of the terrorists on 9/11 but other contained terroristic attempts, the public and even some government officials are not completely certain that full body scans are worth the violation of the public's privacy. In essence, full body scans are advance x-rays pictures taken by a scanner in which passenger step into. The pictures produced are the equivalent to a "digital strip search" (Schwartz, 2009) and the images "could be startlingly detailed" (Schwartz, 2009), revealing even what are considered our most private parts. These pictures