The Snowden Files

Abstract

Surveillance in modern western societies has always been a challenge to the foundation of these democratic liberal societies. The line that separates acts of surveillance for the purpose of national security from illegitimate acts that a surveillance state exhibits has always been a blurry one. This study aims at exploring the NSA files that were leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013 during the Barack Obama administration. These files exposed practices that the US government engaged in the post 9/11 era; practices that were constitutionally dubious yet promoted under the umbrella of advancing national security. By shifting from targeted surveillance to mass surveillance in the post 9/11 era, and with the expansion of technology, the US government has exhibited elements of a surveillance state that run contrary to the liberal democratic principles on which the U.S. was founded. These surveillance activities went well beyond safeguarding national security to serve other interests, including economic ones and the quest for international influence.