Well spying on the governments and especially the defense departments of other nations is certainly one thing. They’re probably trying to do it to us, and there’s definitely an intelligence arms race that maybe no one can win, but that we certainly don’t want to lose.
The NGO thing is sadly true, we ourselves are not above it. However, my big concern with the NSA is the fact that we’ve decided refugee camps are hotbeds of terrorist activity. When you consider that refugees already face a strong stigma in host countries and some of these refugee camps are very permanent, it contributes to the pile-on that in a lot of ways is unwarranted. Look at the refugee camps in Jordan, for example:
There’s a UNRWA camp in Jabal Al-Hussein in Amman, Jordan, I’ve been there. It doesn’t look anything like a camp like you would imagine. It’s permanent concrete buildings. Palestinians in Jordan have traditionally been seen as a potential fifth column by the government there, and have faced related disadvantages in employment and state-sponsored oppression. The “War on Terror” in many countries just became a “War on Undesirables” and credulous US intelligence agencies who have traditionally sucked at HUMINT especially in the Middle East and Central Asia just take the “local experts” (AKA the corrupt local government) at their word and often serve to perpetuate this dynamic.
I simply don’t trust the NSA, in light of its staggering failure to observe any kind of nuance or care in spying on Americans, to tread lightly or competently here.
