Questions about the NSA Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Questions about the NSA - Research Paper Example These include e-mailing and telephone addresses used in communication and the dates and times of the communications. However, the programs do not give permission to collection of the content of the e-mails or calls themselves (Electronic Frontier Foundation). It is worth noting that although a huge amount of the information is collected, a vast majority of it does not usually get reviewed. This is because of the unresponsive nature of the information toward the limited queries authorized for purposes of intelligence. These programs are also subjected to extensive regimes of internal checks, more so for U.S persons and are monitored by the FISA court together with the congress. Therefore, NSA bulk collection programs are important tools in fighting against terrorism, they are greatly helpful in identification of terrorist plots aiming the homeland. The tools have the uniqueness of producing intelligence that is otherwise not available to the NSA. During the time before the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York, the NSA failed to establish that a call made by one of the persons involved in the attack, one al-Mihdhar, was in fact originating from San Diego, California. Instead, despite intercepting and transcribing the calls, NSA could not get to know al-Mihdhar’s calling location, leading to the conclusion that he was overseas. It is because of this that programs were developed to close such gaps that allow individuals like al-Mihdhar to go undetected while communicating, in fact while in the United States, during plotting of terror attacks. One such program operates under the FISA Court authority and which is pursuant to FISA’s â€Å"business records† authority, which has a common reference as â€Å"Section 215†. Together with similar programs in operation pursuant to FISA, and including exercising of trap/pen authorities,

Role of the FBI in the United States Criminal Justice System Research Paper

Role of the FBI in the United States Criminal Justice System - Research Paper Example Moreover, the FBI may also conduct investigations abroad but only if possible and if permitted by the government of the country in which it will conduct its investigation. The main concern of the FBI and the core of its mission is providing â€Å"criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners† (â€Å"Overview,† 2012). This means that the role of the FBI encompasses and overlaps that of any law enforcement agency of the United States provided such a case is of a federal or national concern. The history of FBI began in July 1908 when then Attorney General Charles Bonaparte called for a small group of investigators that will report directly to the Department of Justice. This small group became known as the Bureau of Investigation or the BOI, and the first types of cases handled by the BOI included land fraud, copyright violations, prostitution, auto theft and other less serious crimes. In World War I, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the BOI to include among its tasks he investigations of possible espionage, sedition and sabotage. In 1924, when the BOI was under Director John Edgar Hoover, there was intensive demand for strict professionalism within the organization and this system of discipline has been implemented until now. In 1935, the BOI was renamed as the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI, and it was then that its tasks included the investigation of kidnapping cases and the new provision provided for FBI officials to carry weapons and make arrests. In the 195 0s, the FBI became very active in the suppression and control of riots and organized crimes during the Civil Rights Movement. However, it was only in 1995, after the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, that the FBI began its work against domestic and international terrorism for the purpose of national security of the United States. In December 2004, the DI or Directorate