NEVER ENOUGH

Embarrassment reigned supreme lately when it was made known that our government, as a result of the work of the National Security Agency, spied on the private phones of our close allies' leaders. The case that has gotten the most attention was the eavesdropping on the German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone. The common refrain has been that this revelation has put a serious breach in the levels of trust that have existed among the governments of many of our allies and ourselves including the personal trust among the leaders. This whole case provides an excellent opportunity to review with civics students the role and function of espionage.

Much goes into espionage including analysis of data on a massive scale. This analysis takes on the form of puzzle-solving which incorporates information from a variety of sources: sometimes information that is intentionally targeted, sometimes information gathered from unsuspected origins. One never knows for sure where that next nugget of data will appear. Not only will its source be surprising, but it can be information that on the surface seems unrelated, but when combined with other facts, becomes the key to some insight or location, or agent, or some other element that leads to lifesaving understanding. Spying is, of course, done by all governments. It is considered a necessary element of national defense. But, as we tell our kids, just because everyone does it doesn't make it right. What questions should we be asking our students when it comes to espionage? Here are a set of initial questions I think would be useful for students to consider as they inquire into the world of spying:

One, is spying essential in maintaining our security?

Two, how many resources do we dedicate to spying – at least as far as we can determine? How many resources should we dedicate to spying?

Three, should there be different rules or policies regarding spying on our adversaries as opposed to spying on our allies?

Four, in the actual act of spying, are there types of activities that should be prohibited or considered out of bounds?

Five, how should privacy issues be handled in our spying activities?

Six, what is at stake: consequences of having an aggressive spying program or the consequences of having reluctant or a non-existent spying program?

Seven, is there any such thing as too much spying? How would you measure that?

You can probably think of other questions, but I would want students to reflect on the ramifications of either conducting truly intrusive activities or activities that were shy about targeting certain or all agents, either domestic or foreign. For example, in the case of the German Chancellor, the opinion has been posed by some that if the leaders of our government wanted to know what the leader of an ally was thinking, saying, or doing, our government's agents could simply call and ask what they were going to do. But what a defender of our spying strategies might say is, first, you can never know enough about what leaders or other officials from countries – friendly or not – are thinking, saying, and doing. It is not that you don't trust them, but that what they might divulge when they believe they can be frank without worrying about repercussions could be information that would fit into a bigger picture of what is going on in the world. It could be a bit of innocent data that is the missing information needed to solve a vexing puzzle. You can never have enough information because you never know where any particular revelation might lead an investigation. At least, that is what a rationale might include in defending such espionage. Remember, the potential stakes can be another 9/11 attack.

On the other side of the debate is of course what such activities do to our rights, especially our right to privacy. I don't feel I need to add much here about privacy since I have dedicated more than one posting to the topic and will probably do so in the future. I want to instead make the case that while there are serious and legitimate concerns about our government spying on us and on foreign people, organizations, and governments, there are legitimate concerns over the dangers that are posed by those who want to do us harm. It is useful to figure out what their plans are to a degree of specificity that would allow us to take protective actions. Our students should be made aware of such dangers – both those emanating from foreign agents and those from our own government as it abuses our rights.