Intelligence Reform Post 9/11

• Elizabeth Hardy

Public Policy – Intelligence Reform

The subject of intelligence reform became a major public policy of interest in political society when the major terrorist act 9/11 occurred in 2001, which horribly shook up the safe state of minds of American citizens, which are similar results like the Red Scares, which occurred in 1918 and 1947. Though these events occurred in different eras of the United States, they still have a similar result: they struck fear in Americans and brought forth radical results and countermeasure. The only difference is Americans are not unconsciously being taught to be cautious and frightened of communists and anarchists, they are being taught to fear a race, or specific ethnicity. In turn of 9/11, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act was passed by Congress and signed by George W. Bush, which brought upon the formation of different smaller bureaucracies within the Department of Homeland Security, such as the requirement of searches at airports, and more measures being taken when foreigners enter our country, The subject of intelligence reform became a major public policy of interest in political society when the major terrorist act 9/11 occurred in 2001, which horribly shook up the safe state of minds of American citizens, which are similar results like the Red Scares, which occurred in 1918 and 1947. Though these events occurred in different eras of the United States, they still have a similar result: they struck fear in Americans and brought forth radical results and countermeasure. The only difference is Americans are not unconsciously being taught to be cautious and frightened of communists and anarchists, they are being taught to fear a race, or specific ethnicity. In turn of 9/11, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act was passed by Congress and signed by George W. Bush, which brought upon the formation of different smaller bure

At first glance, the statement that the federal government is using its methods of protecting it’s citizens from further harm in tragedies such as 9/11 to psychologically dumb them down and manipulate them with their fears sounds like a radical opinion. However, the government is known for such tactics of psychological control in the past, such as the Red Scares. Which raises the question of why the federal government would feel the need to do so. It is said in a short and precise statement made by Robert Jervis that the federal government may say they want citizens informed and to have intelligence on its national and foreign affairs, but they don’t because good intelligence often raises doubts and brings challenges in their policies. To keep a country protected, large precautions must be taken, and privacy invaded, but few know where the the end of the line is when citizen’s privacy has been breached.

A method to better understanding how the intelligence reform has veered from its initial purpose, it is wise to review the reasons for the precautions formed after the incident of 9/11, and why the government plays on the national fear of terrorism. By doing so, it reveals all of what 9/11 exposed about the United States federal government. The event of 9/11 not only exposed the FBI’s failure to foresee the terrorist attack, when there had been domestic terrorist threats previously, and that there had been calls made in about reports of men learning how to fly a plane, but not learning how to land it in a nearby flight school. 9/11 exposed the government’s inability to protect it’s country and how they ignored all signs of foreign threat, which resulted in the loss of many lives. For this reason, the increase in terrorism prevention should’ve been focused on improving immigration into America from foreign countries, and improving their ability to identify possible threats in the future. However, looking at alA method to better understanding how the intelligence reform has veered from its initial purpose, it is wise to review the reasons for the precautions formed after the incident of 9/11, and why the government plays on the national fear of terrorism. By doing so, it reveals all of what 9/11 exposed about the United States federal government. The event of 9/11 not only exposed the FBI’s failure to foresee the terrorist att

Citizens of America are not only being held under the blunt consequences of surveillance because of terrorism through uncomfortable airport searches, but also through citizen’s cell phones. The government, specifically the NSA, the National Security Agency, has admitted to tapping into phone conversations, and has even resorted to intercepting phone reception to connect to planes that they’ve created to specifically gain information on the cell phone user and track them from location to location. The biggest concern for not only citizens, but also phone businesses, is the cell phone providers weren’t aware of this at first either. Citizens, after this discovery, were outraged that their privacy had been unfaithfully violated without their consent or knowledge. Which raises the question as to why the government is using terrorism prevention to invade the privacy of citizens, which is not delved so deeply into the precautions that can be taken to be more careful about people coming into the country, not already within it. Not only that, but men such as Edward Snowden, for example, are at risk of being prosecuted if he were ever to step a foot on United State soil again for leaking information about the NSA also raises flags, such as what the NSA fears the public knowing about what they have been up to, or what they haven’t possibly released to the public and deliberately attempted to keep hidden so as they could continue spying on the public. Government departments, such as the CIA, and the NSA, claim to have a mission to preempt threats on the United States through conducting covert operations and collecting intelligence to safeguard the secrets that will keep it’s nation safe, these departments only are concerned about safeguarding their own secrets, and knowing absolutely everything about everyone else’s.

Other public concerns relating to intellectual reform and its current state is the current state of immigration. If the purposes of keeping citizens safe and preventing acts of terrorism is to watch and observe its citizens more closely, people coming into the country should be watched over even more heavily. However, it appears, while immigrants are now being permitted to pour into the United States, less concentration is on them,and still on American citizens, even though the stereotypical terrorists America has previously seen from experiences are mostly foreign. Which leads America to believing, as Ronald Reagan has even brought up in several discussions, that a nation that cannot control its borders and investigate the people coming into their nation, is not even a nation at all.

With all that has been discussed, concerning the nation and only a few of the government’s methods of spying on its citizens to prevent “terrorist” acts and the public policy actions that seem to indirectly betray that purpose has brought the nation’s citizens to have distrust in it’s government, with reason. The citizens are being violated of given rights to their privacy, and have done absolutely nothing illicit of the sort to have that right breached. The meaning “Intelligence Reform,” which was originally meant to define the mission to revise and improve the methods of gaining information on foreign or domestic threat on the nation more effectively before the act has occurred so that it may be prevented has become the meaning of reforming and twisting the country’s views on privacy through the fear of terrorism so that the government may slowly gain intelligence through unlawful and even almost illicit methods while even stripping it’s citizens of any intelligence on foreign or domestic information.