President Obama on the Role of the Military, Technology, National Security, and Civil Liberties

President Obama recently visited West Point and gave a speech to the graduating Class of 2014. In his speech, he subtly addressed the issues of national security and civil liberties that have recently had their time in the limelight of American controversy. For example, about midway through his speech, President Obama discussed the issue of national security and the alleged encroachment of civil liberties in terms of transparency, saying, "... we must be more transparent about both the basis of our counterterrorism actions and the manner in which they are carried out. We have to be able to explain them publicly, whether it is drone strikes or training partners. I will increasingly turn to our military to take the lead and provide information to the public about our efforts." In this statement, he puts the responsibility for communicating methods of counterterrorism to the American public partially in the hands of the military. He then seems to condemn the U.S. government's communication gap with its people in recent times - and perhaps even make somewhat of a threat to the graduating class and military at large to ensure that secrets like those of the NSA should not be withheld from the people again as he says, " But when we cannot explain our efforts clearly and publicly, we face terrorist propaganda and international suspicion, we erode legitimacy with our partners and our people, and we reduce accountability in our own government." President Obama then proceeded to add in a justification of the NSA's recent actions, in a statement that illustrated that while the NSA may have violated citizens' right of privacy, they were doing it in the name of counterrorism. The President said, " For the foreseeable future, the most direct threat to America at home and abroad remains terrorism." Here, President Obama is not only suggesting that terrorism is the most immense threat to national and perhaps even global security. He also is subtly proposing that since the U.S.'s greatest threat is the constant terrorist threat, the NSA was justified in its actions, for the NSA was only fighting off the greatest threat to the U.S. and they were only trying to protect American citizens. In the tail end of his speech, President Obama called to mind what he considers true encroachments upon civil liberties that take place in the tyrannical countries around the world - and, according to the President, especially in Arabic countries. He also makes note of how much these tyrannical settings are disappearing from the world. President Obama said, "But remember that...because of American diplomacy and foreign assistance as well as the sacrifices of our military, more people live under elected governments today than at any time in human history...And even the upheaval of the Arab World reflects the rejection of an authoritarian order that was anything but stable, and now offers the long-term prospect of more responsive and effective governance." He goes on to defend the prospect of advancing technology for the common good as he said, "Technology is empowering civil society in ways that no iron fist can control. New breakthroughs are lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty." (For more of President Obama's speech, see here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/28/remarks-president-united-states-military-academy-commencement-ceremony)