As public attitudes are shifting against Snowden “with more than half of Americans now supporting criminal charges against the former security contractor who’s disclosed details of surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency” and while most Americans don’t see such surveillance unjustified intrusions on our privacy rights, it may not have come as a surprise that the House defeated legislation yesterday that “would have limited N.S.A. phone surveillance to specific targets of law enforcement investigations, not broad dragnets.”
However, it did come as a surprise to this writer who — although vehemently opposed to the way Mr. Snowden has gone about exposing NSA excesses — believes that the NSA programs must be thoroughly examined and changed where necessary to protect our rights consistent with national security and while continuing to protect Americans against terrorist attacks.
Hopefully, the debate will continue. The New York Times:
Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and a longtime critic of post-Sept. 11 counterterrorism efforts, said lawmakers would keep coming back with legislation to curtail the dragnets for “metadata,” whether through phone records or Internet surveillance.
At the very least, the section of the Patriot Act in question will be allowed to expire in 2015, he said. “It’s going to end — now or later,” Mr. Nadler said. “The only question is when and on what terms.”
Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, promised lawmakers that he would draft legislation this fall to add more privacy protections to government surveillance programs even as he begged the House to oppose blanket restrictions.
But back to those polls. They are surprising, even conflicting, ambivalent.
A CBS News poll released Wednesday reflects that 67 percent of Americans believe the government’s collection of phone records was a violation of privacy. At the same time, however, 52 percent called it a necessary tool to help find terrorists.
According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, the public, by a 57-39 percent margin, says that “it’s more important for the government to investigate possible terrorist threats than for it to protect privacy rights” and, as mentioned previously:
A plurality thinks Snowden’s disclosures have harmed national security (49 percent say so, 37 percent not, with the rest unsure). And 53 percent now support charging him with a crime, up from 43 percent last month, with a 13-point rise in “strong” support. People who think Snowden has harmed security are far more apt than others to favor criminal charges.
As to the “conflicting” part — some may call it something else — “most doubt that the NSA’s efforts enhance security”:
Currently just 42 percent think the NSA’s surveillance program is making the United States safer from terrorism. Forty-seven percent think it’s not making much difference, and 5 percent say it’s making things worse.
For more details on this ABC News/Washington Post poll that was conducted July 18-21, please read here.
