Secrecy, Good, Bad, Or Both - 1844 Words

Secrecy. Good, Bad, or Both? Is the Intelligence Community making us safer? Yes, they are. They make mistakes but these mistakes can not so easily be forgotten. The case of the FBI, CIA, and NSA and 9/11 overwhelming proves that secrecy prevented the U.S. from being able to protect itself. Secrecy must be balanced and knowing this can help us make changes. Are intelligence agencies making us safer and more secure by hiding things, covering up details, and becoming more and more secretive? I would say we still have a long way to go before we can say that we are safe. Secrecy isn’t making us safer, and the freedoms that are trampled on by the Intelligence Community isn’t my definition of safety. And that is the point. There are many†¦show more content†¦Ethics must change. The mission and values that the FBI, CIA, and NSA broadcast and say they have must be adhered to, not just glanced at as a suggestion. Intelligence operations aren’t easy and rule breaki ng is prevalent in these jobs because of the nature of the work, but this doesn’t give intelligence communities permission to lie to the people. Making the pledge to protect American citizens cannot go hand in hand with spying on them. But in the case of secrecy, a clear side really can’t be chosen by all. Not everyone will agree that secrecy is either good or bad. Some secrecy is good, it saves missions and lives and helps, in some cases, to take out people who have intentions to hurt Americans. But the secrecy that prevents safety is the secrecy that should be unacceptable. In all, the Intelligence Community has an extremely difficult and sometimes morally and ethically ambiguous job. But striving to maintain truth should be a great effort. This has to be fault for by those supposedly in charge. The President and Congress struggle for control of the Intelligence Community. The United States Intelligence Community continually finds ways to operate without democratic accountability, and because of this, in 1975, things had to change. The U.S. Intelligence Community went basically unsupervised until the Watergate Scandal. When Nixon went about using the FBI and the CIA in the wrong capacity. Changes to the Intelligence Community