SIGINT: Term of Service

The National Security Agency, NSA is responsible for protecting our national security from threats from abroad and from foreign actors within the United States.  One of the ways the NSA accomplishes its mission is by continuously monitoring, accessing, and analyzing our adversaries' capabilities, intentions, and ultimately their actions. If the NSA was required to issue a terms of service agreement on any computer or network within the United States before it was allowed to monitor that computer or network would, in my opinion, do more harm than good.

Through a terms of service agreement the NSA would have to specifically state the legal purpose for the information being collected, what its users rights would be and the user’s accountability in case the information collected were be lost stolen or misused.  In addition, the NSA would have to publically and legally review how the information was being collected. This would inhibit the convert aspect of data collection and would allow malicious insiders to review the terms of service agreement and gain insights on the techniques and methods of covert data collection.  Through these insights, it would allow malicious insiders to adjust their tactics and publish possible counter measures thereby preventing these data collection activities to work effectively here and abroad.   Finally, the requirement for a term of service agreement may make it impossible for a multi-national company like the Bank of America, Google, and Microsoft, to both comply with the terms of service agreement and provide data and information security to its customers in the US and around the world.  If they declined to accept the terms of service agreement would they prevented from using the internet, Wi-Fi and cellular networks to provide services to their customers?  This would have a dramatic impact on the US economic that relies on telecommunication for everything from electronic trading to banking transactions and even Tele-medicine. If a term of service was issued, should we only allow one agency like NSA to manage and protect our country’s Information?  

In my opinion the NSA Signal Intelligence operations are vital and needed to maintain a constant protection against our foreign and domestic adversaries.