CHAPTER FouR • CiviL LibERTiEs 87
Now a person under suspicion can be monitored electronically regardless of location or
the technology in use. Such roving wiretaps appear to be inconsistent with the Fourth
Amendment, which requires a judicial warrant to describe the place to be searched, not
just the person. As an unavoidable side effect, the government has access to the conversa-
tions and e-mail of many innocent people.National security Agency surveillance. In 2001, President Bush authorized the
National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct secret surveillance without court warrants,
even warrants from special security courts. The NSA was to monitor phone calls and other
communications between foreign parties and persons within the United States when one
of the parties had suspected links to terrorist organizations. When news of the program
came out in 2005, it was criticized by civil liberties groups. In 2007 and 2008, however,
Congress passed laws to authorize the NSA wiretaps.Recent Revelations of NsA Activity. In June 2013, leaks provided by an employee of
a federal contractor revealed that NSA surveillance was far more extensive than previously
assumed. Among the most striking revelations was that the NSA gathers information on
every domestic phone call made in the United States and other countries. The NSA does
not record the contents of the calls, but rather “metadata,” which includes time of call, the
number of the caller, and the number of the phone that was called.
Under a second program, PRISM, the NSA collects information from the Web sites of
corporations, including Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Skype, and others. A third
revelation was of major espionage actions against European countries. These included
bugging the offices of the European Union in advance of trade talks between the United
States and that organization. The reports
resulted in an outcry by U.S. civil liber-
tarians and by European leaders. The
Obama administration defended the
programs, however, noting—correctly—
that they had been authorized by secret
courts and that foreign citizens are not
protected by the Bill of Rights.National security
and the Civil Liberties
of immigrants
For many U.S. citizens, immigration—
especially unauthorized or illegal immi-
gration—is a national security issue.
The terrorist attacks on September 11,
2001, reinforced the belief that the
civil liberties of noncitizens should be
limited. Among the most obvious char-
acteristics of the terrorists who perpe-
trated the 9/11 attacks is that they were
all foreign citizens. Still, legal immi-
grants who are not citizens have rights.
The Bill of Rights contains no language
that limits its protections to citizens.A Hong Kong protester holds a placard supporting Edward
Snowden, a former NSA contractor charged under the U.S. Espionage Act.
Snowden fled to Hong Kong after exposing U.S. surveillance programs and is now
living in Russia. (Luke Casey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)9781285436388_04_ch04_066-091.indd 87 10/15/13 8:56 AM
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