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Please explain how the ever-changing communication methods of foreign terrorists creates probable cause for the NSA to search and seize the electronic communications of all U.S. citizens?

How do you reconcile that with the 4th Amendment right of every individual U.S. citizen to be secure in his papers and effects from unreasonable search and seizure?

I am not being adversarial. I truly want to understand why both of you believe that national security interests outweigh a sacred constitional guarantee.

montanajoe has asserted that there is precedent for suspending constitutional liberties during a time of war. While that is true, I would point out that previous wars fit the mold of conventional war within a finite period of time. The WOT, however, is unconventional with an indefinite timeframe. Are we to suspend constitional liberties indefinitely?

I think this quandry is the result of our unwillingness to engage in total war against radical Islam with an end result of total destruction. We broke our own rule of “you’re either with us or you’re against us.” Why should our civil liberties be the price for failure of leadership in a time of war?

BuckeyTexan thank you for your thought provoking post. I read the original article about Edward Snowden and watched the interview a few days later. As MontanaJoe acknowledged in an earlier post... nothing was revealed that I and almost every other person in this forum didn't already assume was being done. His “crime” or “treason” according to MontanaJoe was contradicting the statements of officials in the Obama administration that had been questioned recently by congress.

Collecting this “meta-data” on the communications of every American citizen is a horrendous waste of time and resources, because again as MontanaJoe has pointed out in an earlier post... he himself sometimes takes additional steps to ensure the privacy of his own communications. Does he think that our “enemies” are less sophisticated than he is and will not do the same? Does Montanajoe think that Muslim terrorists do not purchase prepaid cell phones using anonymous names or set up free email accounts using false identities or use any number of other techniques that largely gets around this multi-billion dollar boondoggle.

Again... MontanaJoe posted that Edward Snowden didn't reveal anything that he himself didn't already assume was happening and that he himself didn't already take steps to assure his own privacy. Edward Snowden contradicted and embarrassed the Obama administration; he did not reveal the identities of secret contacts or even details that were specific enough that they have compromised any ongoing NSA operation. All he did was confirm what almost everyone has assumed has been going on all along and bring the subject out to where it can be openly debated.

Edward Snowden did this at great personal risk to himself and on behalf of his fellow citizens. There is a very good chance he will either be killed or spend the rest of his life in some secret dungeon. He has sacrificed himself hoping that it will start a debate which would help turn the country from the path that he sees as ever more intrusive and unconstitutional interference in the lives of innocent people. In my book he is a patriot.

I truly want to understand why both of you believe that national security interests outweigh a sacred constitutional guarantee.

You're assuming this nation operates according to the Constitution....and that anything is guaranteed today..it is not.

However..the first Responsibility of our Government is the Security of this Nation...and it is not...without a Secure Nation all bets are off the table..and is what we are seeing playing out everyday....even without outside threats.

Islam is the number one enemy we have..and the World on a whole...anyone watching the World Stage is seeing it's power and agenda not only moving but gaining....and for the most part it's a “silent creeping” across our nation.

If any think that our country is not already invaded they are not informed...and when the enemy is on your land and functioning behind the scenes...using all the communication networks within ...then it really isn't hard to understand why gov. is doing what it's doing.

How they USE what they gain is another story. But especially since 9/11....this Country knew it would never be the same as before that..and it won't be.

You call out rights sacred....under who?...that's been sidestepped long long ago. As has the Constitution.

So...Of course the liberties we once knew will not be as we knew them....especially when many so called Americans are not American....they bare the name only...their allegence is elsewhere...this is not their home./p>