Barack Obama
Reports circulating in the press indicate that as
much as U.S. President Barack Obama has stated he seeks to reform
the National Security Agency (NSA) the agency has revealed they plan
to expand domestic and international spying, much of which is
illegal. Under the U.S. Constitution, NSA spying on Americans is
illegal. However, in a scandal I broke, which was confirmed by
documents leaked years later by courageous whistleblower, Edward
Snowden, the agency has been violating the Constitution. Though
Congress has vocally spoken out against it, they’ve done nothing to
stop it.
NSA
NSA spying emanating from the program PRISM (among
other illegal spy programs the agency maintains in tandem with the
FBI and CIA) is very costly and coming straight out of taxpayer
money to the tune of billions of dollars per year. This money could
be better served in the U.S. economy creating jobs, scholarships for
students seeking to attend university, underwriting Small Business
Association loans, providing grants for Americans seeking to buy a
home who qualify but do not have sufficient funds for the down
payment plus closing costs, revitalizing neighborhoods suffering
from urban decay and helping the homeless. Instead the money is
going to a series of computer systems to collect illegally obtained
surveillance data that is very expensive to maintain. The money to
purchase the computers and related software was not spread around
many companies and people. It was a poor use of taxpayer money that
isn’t making America any richer.
