National Security and Individual Liberty: Tradeoffs
Ruben Nagesparan Chandrakumar, BS
There is a fundamental tension between national security and individual liberty which will always exist; the need to balance these two values necessitates wise leadership who will not violate individual liberty, while simultaneously understanding the importance of defending the population. As brilliantly described by Thomas Sowell, within policy, there are no solutions—only tradeoffs. We cannot and must not hope for a sacred policy solution that will guarantee a perfect future; what we must strive to achieve in governance are politicians who can weigh each issue with expertise and prudence, kept in check by an educated and informed public.
There are various ways in which this tension between security and liberty manifests, including within terrorism, public health, and cyber-freedom. The Patriot Act, passed in response to the tragedy of 9/11, gave law enforcement agencies greater powers in order to prevent further terrorist activities; however, critics of the Act argue that it is a wide breach of both privacy rights and civil liberties. The value of eliminating and preventing terrorism clashed heavily with the individual rights and liberties of the citizenry.
COVID-19 also serves as a quintessential example; given the fact that the virus was novel, scientists, public health officials, and politicians were initially unable to judge the policies that should be implemented due to a lack of data. The danger of the virus, the ways in which it spread, the protection against it, the vaccines, the vaccine distrust, and several other variables—which were highly uncertain during the beginning and different phases of the pandemic—required decisions that often held a conflict between individual liberties and public health.
A final example is the balance between the duty of the National Security Agency to protect the country against cyber-attacks, implement counter-terrorism measures, and gather intelligence, and the citizen’s rights to privacy and awareness of the monitoring being conducted. The actions of Edward Snowden, the famous whistleblower, highlighted this exact concern of mass violations of civil liberties and the right to privacy.
All of these illustrate the complex relationship that must be balanced between the two values of national security and individual liberty. In the painstaking decisions that must be made, the tradeoffs must be accurately assessed and discussed by wise leadership. The public must remain alert and keep the government in check to prevent violations of freedom and the totalitarian tendency. They must seek transparency, strengthen the checks and balances of the government, advocate for policy reforms, and protest when needed.