In a report published today in The Wall Street Journal, the Obama White House was presented with the final four recommendations for restructuring the National Security Agency’s (“NSA”) controversial bulk collection of data. As one would imagine, none of the four options available are perfect, but they include: (1) Abolishment of the entire program itself; (2) have the phone companies retain the data; (3) have a government agency, other than the NSA (e.g. FBI), hold onto the data; or(4) have an entity outside the phone company and government hold onto the data.
When looking at the last 3 options objectively, it would seem that the problem really never goes away. Private phone companies will become quasi-government agencies, and is it feasible to think, given its past history under J. Edgar Hoover, that the FBI would be trustworthy enough not hold onto the data? Judges are apprehensive about expanding the role of the U.S. judicial system to such an oversight role, but the appointment of a “special master” which oversees how the data is collected would be just what the NSA program needs if it is to sustain itself long-term. Arguably, the main role, or function, of our government is to protect and safeguard the citizens of the United States, and the first option, or “nuclear” option, would deal a major blow to intelligence efforts on the national security level.