Yes, I'm concerned about the government violating our Constitution Bill of Rights. I never supported those parts of the Patriot Act which impinge on 4th amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
Better coordination and sharing of information between intelligence and law enforcement agencies makes sense, as do other elements. But our government should -- and must -- competently do its job without violating the 4th amendment.
Remember the warning by Benjamin Franklin: "Any society that would trade a little liberty for a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
Deciding between privacy and security is a FALSE CHOICE.
I believe, as did our Founding Fathers in writing our Constitution and Bill of Rights, that government CAN fulfill its responsibilities to protect both our security AND privacy within the Constitution Bill of Rights, period.
Government just needs to be increasingly more competent to do so -- to apply the new technologies, old technologies, and lessons learned with stricter action points.
Competence should be under the microscope. Also, outsourcing should be under the microscope.
The Edward Snowden incident conveniently has put both of these issues front and center -- in the NSA as well as elsewhere in the government's critical services, such as all military, policing, prisons-judicial, NRC, and IRS.
How much have new technologies and analytics improved government competence in protecting BOTH security and privacy? How has outsourcing impacted capabilities and competence -- improved or detracted?
Outsourcing our privacy and security concerns me enough to write this blog post at this time.
Outsourcing the privacy and security of We the People is the topic of this post and should concern every taxpayer.
I support the great work of the NSA, CIA, and other brave patriots defending our country. I'm not picking on the NSA or any other agency. I'm concerned about the contracting-outsourcing practice as it relates to our privacy and security.
The under-reported, under-discussed issue is that our government outsources our security ... and privacy ... to companies which then hire away government employees and return them to government jobs at much higher compensation plus profit for the outsourcing company.
Why doesn't the NSA hire employees, especially to handle such sensitive information? Why didn't the NSA either transfer from CIA to NSA or just hire away Edward Snowden?
If cost of employment is what will attract (away from other prospective employers) the trained, talented, and experienced employees that government needs in order to fulfill its responsibilities, then we should improve the compensation packages. These are not areas of government where we should pinch pennies. We're paying that much ... and more in contractor profits ... now by outsourcing!
Clearly, as we now see, the use of much more expensive private sector employees does not increase NSA competence. Edward Snowden affair being a prime example ... and the one now known to the taxpayers.
Paying more for private sector employees who left public employment just for the purpose of doing the same jobs for more money is tantamount to corruption or conspiracy to defraud our government. It's also an affront to our public employees doing the right thing. And, it's a blatant waste of taxpayers' dollars.
Further, if these private "middleman" companies are going to suck profits out of the taxpayers for arranging for public employees to go private for higher compensation, then these companies also should bear the burden, culpability, and liability.
Outsourcing government employee jobs, often in order to pay government employees much more and, perhaps, just to leech from the taxpayers, is epidemic in the U.S. government (and probably at the state, county and local levels too).
Congress should hold public hearings and elected officials should be held accountable on the campaign trail to justify or condemn it.
What do you think?
Steve Reichenstein
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