Abdo's 2013 Testimony to the American Civil Essay

Abdo's (2013) testimony to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is about the NSA privacy breaches first exposed in depth by Edward Snowden. The speaker accuses the NSA of using intrusive and "in certain respects unlawful" surveillance methods (p. 2). The NSA has also used their surveillance techniques outside as well as inside of the United States. Abdo (2013) speaks directly to the ACLU to outline the scope of the NSA's surveillance program. The overall purpose of the speech is to suggest what role the ACLU can and should play in promoting civil liberties, which is of course the mission of the organization.

Because NSA surveillance is a direct threat to privacy and civil liberties, the subject matter is directly relevant to the core goals of the ACLU. First, the author lists some of the main components of the NSA surveillance program. A few of the components are rooted in legislation like the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act, such as the collection of "telephony data" from "every single phone call into, out of, and within the United States (p. 2). The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is another law that allows the NSA to conduct surveillance. Specifically, FISA authorizes the NSA to monitor electronic communications "to an extent not previously understood" (p. 2). The NSA has undermined banking security and other encryption tools governing international and domestic commerce. This presents a clear threat to ordinary American consumers, who are thereby at increased risk for identity theft or worse.

According to the author, the ACLU must evaluate the extent of the NSA program and act quickly to uphold the lawful rights of Americans entitled to freedom of association, freedom of expression, privacy of communications, and general privacy. Specific legal documents at stake include the United States Constitution the American Declaration on the…