This is part of a transcript from a speech given by John Fitzgerald Kennedy in front of the American Newspaper Publishers Association on April 27, 1961.
"The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment."
Mr. Kennedy's words can not be more prevalent in today's world.
On October 26th, 2001, after passing through a Republican-controlled House Of Representatives and a Democrat-controlled Senate, passed the now infamous Patriot Act Of 2001. Such provisions most commonly known in the bill include section 213, also known as "Sneak and Peak warrants," which permit a search of a suspect without informing them until after the search.
ABC News Reported in a 2007 case that a Portland Lawyer, Brandon Mayfield, was detained in 2004 as a suspect in a bombing which had occurred in Madrid, based on fingerprints found near the scene.
"Mayfield was released only after the FBI admitted that the evidence had been improperly analyzed and that the fingerprints were not those of Mayfield."
"Mayfield accused the government of unlawfully placing listening devices in his home and executing so-called 'sneak-and-peek' searches at his law office."
US District Judge, Ann Aiken, concluded that "unlawfully 'permits the executive branch to conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without satisfying the probable cause requirements' of the Fourth Amendment," but was later appealed by the United States Government.
In 2013, a leak by a former National Security Agency worker, Edward Snowden, released documents revealing that the United States Government had been collecting under Section 215 "tangible things" which allowed the bulk collection of data of "suspects." Which was not known to American's that not only potential suspected terrorists were being watched, but that the National Security Agency was collecting all Americans' information.
The leak also covered the greater extent of the NSA's overreach, but that will be covered in Part 2, which will be released next week.
