TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Surveillance and National Security During Nixon Years and Today

Surveillance and National Security During Nixon Years and Today

hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
12 Jan 2006 10:04:48 -0800

As we know, the Nixon Administration made use of illegal techniques to
secure information it felt was necessary to protect national security.
This was the essence of Watergate. Note that "Watergate" really
wasn't about the break in at the Watergate Apartments, but a larger
picture of operations "The Plumbers" and subsequent cover up.

Most people think Nixon and his administration were dead wrong in what
they did. Congress subsequently passed strict laws limiting the FBI
and CIA.

Although most people have a knee-jerk anti-Nixon reaction, the reality
was that the situation was not that simple. Nixon was not paranoid --
his Administration really did very determined enemies out to destroy
it by any means possible, as well as disrupt the affairs of the
country as much as possible. Many young people of the time--those who
were in the forefront of the protest movement--really didn't
understand the economic and social harm they were doing to everyday
life of the country by the disruptions. Nor did the appreciate the
evil enemy we were fighting in Vietnam. (Yes, contrary to Jane Fonda,
they were pretty ruthless; remember the boat people fleeing the
country afterwards.)

I know personally from those days radicals were coming to college
campuses and spewing propaganda to recruit people to disrupt everyday
life and succeeding in some ways. This is not, contrary to belief of
some, legitimate political discourse. These were criminal acts and a
violation of the rights of other people.

It was Nixon's responsibility as President to protect this country.
Where Nixon erred is _how_ he went about it. The law enforcement
agencies of the time had existing various police powers. One problem
was that J. Edgar Hoover refused to cooperate with anything; he was
still fighting ancient battles that no longer were relevant.

Moving on to today, the reality is there are evil enemies out there
who want to destroy the U.S. Critics of the Bush Administration have
turned this into a political issue which is wrong. Just as critics
hated Nixon because he was Nixon, today's critics hate Bush because he
is Bush. Both groups focused on the person, not the issues.

Anyway, the Patriot Act and other surevillance techniques is a tough
issue. I personally object to some elements because (1) I don't think
they'll do any good and (2) I think they could be misused; for example
as a backdoor way to enforce drug or tax laws. As to the specific
issue of monitoring overseas phone calls, as mentioned, there are
historic precedents to that. If the target of such monitoring is
potential terrorist activity and the information gathered is limited
to such (can't be shared for other agencies outside of defense), it
would appear to be legitimate defense measures.

In a prior thread someone else mentioned that what happened in the
past is irrelevent. Not true. Precedents, for good and bad, are a
part of our culture. To nail one politician for doing the same thing
that other politicians were known to have done is selective
enforcement and wrong. We honor FDR greatly today, but he did do many
of the same things Nixon did.

Post Followup Article Use your browser's quoting feature to quote article into reply
Go to Next message: Phil Earnhardt: "Re: Public Wants Court to Okay Wiretaps"
Go to Previous message: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com: "So, was Venona wrong?"
Next in thread: John Reiser: "Re: Surveillance and National Security During Nixon Years and Today"
May be reply: John Reiser: "Re: Surveillance and National Security During Nixon Years and Today"
May be reply: John McHarry: "Re: Surveillance and National Security During Nixon Years and Today"
May be reply: John Reiser: "Re: Surveillance and National Security During Nixon Years and Today"
May be reply: AES: "Re: Surveillance and National Security During Nixon Years and Today"
May be reply: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com: "Re: Surveillance and National Security During Nixon Years and Today"
TELECOM Digest: Home Page