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Law V. Safety: Balancing Domestic Surveillance's Legal Deficiencies Against The Necessity Of Counterterrorism, Jeremy Kommel-Bernstein

MSU Graduate Theses

This thesis discusses whether the collection of metadata by the NSA, as revealed in 2013 by Edward Snowden, from domestic sources is legal and/or effective, and how to balance safety and liberty. The topic is both timely and important due to the potential for abuse that comes with domestic intelligence programs, as well as the risk of suffering a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Research for this thesis included personal interviews with former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden, and reviewing numerous court cases, legal documents, and articles and books on the subject. There is significant evidence that the NSA's …