A federal judge has ruled the daily collection of virtually every American’s phone records by the National Security Agency is almost certainly unconstitutional.
A panel appointed by President Obama to make sure the surveillance of Americans is legal reportedly has recommended changes that would cripple the NSA’s ability to collect, store and analyze telephone records, or the time, duration, origination and terminating numbers for phone calls. This was authorized by the Patriot Act.
I am double minded about this. The federal government now collects too much information on us, and with drone technology and other methods of snooping, clearly wants to collect more.
On the other hand, we haven’t had another 9-11 attack and the President says at least fifty terrorist attacks have been prevented.
So where is the line, if there is one? Terrorists play by no rules and recognize no law other than jihad. We can’t beat them if we restrict ourselves. But I don’t fully trust the government. Trading freedom for security is a bad bargain. We need a national debate on this.
I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.
Publication date: December 18, 2013
