| Politics Why Americans Don't Fear the NSA When it comes to protecting us from terrorists, we trust our government will do the right thing. By John Dickerson
Posted Friday, Jun 07, 2013, at 10:58 PM ET  Cybersnooping was always scheduled to be an important topic during President Obama's meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping. We just didn't know until recently that it might be a chance for the two men to exchange best practices. The Chinese government is accused of stealing U.S. military secrets and hacking into the computer networks of American companies. Recent reports suggest the U.S. government may be hacking into the servers of American companies as well. In processing news developments in Obama's second term, the most useful sorting technique for the last few weeks has been to ask: Is this a scandal, a controversy, or merely a flap? The substantive answer in this case is that these revelations about U.S. spy efforts deserve real attention. When officials in the executive branch are given this kind of power, they usually abuse it. That is our history. That's human nature. That is particularly true when there are weak or nonexistent mechanisms to restrain that abuse. The political answer about how important these revelations may be is different. We are simultaneously in the season of high scandal and high fake scandal, but at the moment the political risks seem slim for the president and anyone who supports the National Security Agency's snooping power. For that to change, voters would have to stop giving the executive branch a pass whenever a possible government overreach is done for the sake of fighting terrorism. Polls suggest that people often support ... To continue reading, click here.
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