Tag: Surveillance

Recently Yaron Brook, head of the Ayn Rand Institute, visited the offices of the National Security Agency, as he relates to Amy Peikoff during a “Don’t Let It Go Unheard” podcast of hers. The NSA invited Brook and a small group of other academics to talk with NSA officials. Those officials “tried to convince us that they’re following the law,” Brook said. He said “the law’s the problem, . . . and the executive branch is the problem, and American foreign policy is the problem”; the NSA domestic spy programs are a consequence of those deeper problems. Listen to the podcast for his complete account and for his comments on various other contemporary issues.

The NSA spies on the American public. The CIA spies on Congress—the American public’s elected officials. The IRS targets select groups for “special treatment” based on their political views. Some days, if feels like we don’t even live in America anymore. In his article about the CIA for USA Today, Glenn Reynolds writes: “Contempt for Congress, and for separation of powers and historical understandings about the roles of the executive and legislative branches, has been a hallmark of the Obama administration.” Is it still possible to turn this ship around?