Government and Military Surveillance

The United States is now using its Military and government powers more than ever in their surveillance programs. The United States is surveying schools, hospitals, everything on the Internet and also monitoring phone calls. With today’s technology and knowledge possessed by the government, they can control just about everything. The hope is that they use all this power wisely to benefit the United States. The surveillance makes life safe for everyday citizens by preventing crime and terrorism and tracking down threats or accomplices. The government and military conduct the main surveillance in America. Government and military surveillance is beneficial for the safety of the American people as well as the rest of the world who may be resisting terrorism.

Military surveillance is used more and more today because the United States is at war. America is at war with not a specific country, but terror in general. The terrorists that the United States faces do not have strong militaries or advanced technologies so they often use a tactic called guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare is based on the idea of militia and hit and run tactics. The terrorists have elaborated on guerrilla warfare (developed by Mao Zedong, former ruler of China) and also use IEDs or improvised explosive devices. They use suicide missions and believe, if one of their men kills himself, but kills 12 innocent Americans as well, it is a victory. Stopping the terrorists is the main goal of military surveillance. The military is using techniques such as wiretapping phones and computer hacking to keep an eye on terrorism. The military uses the data very effectively. They use it to investigate and respond to terrorist threats. Every week the military gets a better understanding of how to fight Al-Queda (MacDonald). The new surveillance that the military is using is based on satellites and is gathering more information than ever before. The amount and type of information they get is undisputable too. The United States military is the strongest in the world and they can get anything that they want. They do not need anyone’s consent to gather up any information that they feel is of vital importance. The United States has now implemented a new idea called the “Total Awareness Program”. This gives the military unwarranted access to anything they want regardless of what it is. However, since they can get whatever they want anyway, the Total Awareness Program basically just helps the military better understand the information that they already have (MacDonald). The idea of getting any information that is needed or wanted goes hand in hand with the idea of “secret surveillance”. The military can use satellites and watch over people’s neighborhoods and in some cases they are able to see into someone’s home. The secret military satellites are undetectable to the terrorists because they are like cavemen in the new technological era. The satellites also help find meeting places for terrorist organizations where they could be plotting against the United States or making their own improvised explosive devices. Another part of the military’s secret surveillance is used in the CIA (Klaidman 2). The CIA sends American agents out to act as double agents who pretend to work for other countries. The agents can try to work with their government to set up sabotage from the inside or call in the troops. Another, more dangerous method is pretending to join a terrorist organization. They commit their lives and sign up as suicide bombers, but when they time comes they arrest all the people in the organization. The military uses their superior skills and knowledge as well as technology to form the ultimate surveillance for the United States.