Individual privacy vs. National Security Research Paper

Individual privacy vs. National Security - Research Paper Example These efforts by the government were aimed at enhancing national security. The mode or tactics applied by the federal government to ensure national security has raised question from the public concerning the cost the public needs to pay for a secure nation. Civil liberties are personal freedoms and guarantees that are beyond the control and regulation of the federal government. With the current anti terrorism trend, the government has been forced to draw a boundary between civil liberties and war on terrorism. The federal government should promote civil liberties and democracy despite the current security concerns. This analyzes the importance of maintaining personal privacy without compromising national security and war against terrorism. The US patriot act was introduced after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. According to our research findings, the Act was introduced to unite American and prevent any future acts of terrorism (Sunstein, 2003). The Act was therefore meant to prevent terrorism by punishing terrorists across the United States and around the world. Fighting terrorism is a good thing however; the American government seems to have taken the fight to an extreme end. This is because the war on terrorists ended up on people’s doorstep making them to become victims of the war. Since the implementation of the Patriot Act, the First and Fourth Amendment were changed to heighten war on terror. This led to a compromise on people’s freedoms. Firstly, the first and Fourth amendment considered the national security as a priority. Since the implementation of the Patriot Act, the first and fourth amendments were changed to enhance national security. This implied that according to the act the authorities had the rights to vary and at sometimes compromise people’s freedom in their fight against terrorism. Personal privacy is a civil liberty; according to the constitution, the government has a duty to ensure that it protects human righ ts. The national Act was designed to fight terrorism, had little or no concern over individual privacy and civil liberties. Although fighting terrorism to ensure national security is, a good thing for the government it is costly and therefore the government needed to think otherwise. The cost that the government incurred in ensuring national stood out as an opportunity cost. The government needed to consider the opportunity cost that it suffered in ensuring national security at the expense of civil liberties. From the investigations, it was found out that the government incurred heavy costs through Loss of credibility and trust among its people. If the government considered these cost then it could have realized that enhancing civil liberties was beyond national security. Fighting terrorists is the responsibility of the government. I have no any problem with the efforts the government took to fight terrorists. Every American citizen believes that war against terrorist compromises pe ople’s democracy and should have been controlled. Democracy was established to enhance people’s freedom on their movement, speech, and personal privacy among other civil liberties. Personal privacy is a civil liberty and hence a symbol of democracy. From the investigation, it was established that the authorities had difficulties distinguishing terrorists from citizens.