Alex Violette

Connie Douglas
UWRT 1102
31 January 2015
Inquiry Topic: National Security
This topic was the cause of a major debate that occurred in my global connections class
last semester that took up the majority of a class period: Is the NSA too invasive when it comes
to national security? Prior to this discussion, I had never been asked so I had not thought about it.
This new topic was very interesting to me and others responses were equally as interesting.
Unfortunately, we did not spend any more time on the subject after this day, leaving me with
many unanswered questions. How much information does the government have immediate
access too? How are they using this information? For my multi-genre project, I would like to
research these questions.
As of now, my topic is far too general. I may try to narrow this down by limiting my
search to a specific medium such as cell phones or personal computers. I feel that these questions
are worth exploration because not many people know the extent to which the government has
easy access to. This inquiry should be directed at everyone in the United States as it involves
them and their personal lives. Everyone should be aware of what is going on around them.
According to the small discussion that we had before the debate overwhelmed the class, I
am leaning towards the side agreeing with the NSA spying. Especially after 9/11, I believe that
the spying, although it may be intrusive, is perfectly acceptable if it means the safety of
Americans. Before I completely agree with the NSA, I will perform research using the UNCC
library database search. Alongside the library website, I have a book written by Glenn

Greenwald about the former NSA agent and infamous whistleblower, Edward Snowden. I think
the best way to decide on this topic would be to research previous examples of NSA spying and
the direct outcomes, both positive and negative, and discuss whether the spying was just.