Seeking a Balance in U.S. Economic and National Security Interests

Congress recently passed legislation to curtail several of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance programs, focusing primarily on limiting the agency from directly collecting bulk phone records on U.S. citizens. While this reform was a solid first step in the right direction to protect the civil liberties of U.S. citizens, Congress has not yet addressed the economic concerns raised by pervasive electronic surveillance. That is critically important, because the perception that the U.S. intelligence community engages in widespread electronic surveillance continues to severely undercut the U.S. tech industry’s global competitiveness. Foreign customers fear that U.S. companies may be more vulnerable to NSA surveillance than their non-U.S. counterparts. Until U.S. policymakers address these concerns, U.S. companies will continue to face a disadvantage selling their products and services abroad, writes Alan McQuinn in Cyber Defense Magazine.