Trump is inheriting the most powerful surveillance state in the world

In last night's farewell address, President Obama talked about his administration's success in protecting civil liberties. Specifically he said, "That’s why we’ve ended torture, worked to close Gitmo, and reform our laws governing surveillance to protect privacy and civil liberties." For many, the last statement rings hollow. While the Obama administration can cite legal maneuvering that somewhat insulates individual  Americans from surveillance, the truth is the administration presided over the construction of the most powerful surveillance state in the world.

Over his two terms, Obama has created the most powerful surveillance state the world has ever seen. Although other leaders may have created more oppressive spying regimes, none has come close to constructing one of equivalent size, breadth, cost, and intrusiveness. From 22,300 miles in space, where seven Advanced Orion crafts now orbit; to a 1-million-square-foot building in the Utah desert that stores data intercepted from personal phones, emails, and social media accounts; to taps along the millions of miles of undersea cables that encircle the Earth like yarn, U.S. surveillance has expanded exponentially since Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009.

To date, this has cost us $100B. Now President-Elect Trump is set to inherit an intelligence infrastructure capable of keeping tabs on what seems like the entire world. While Trump has not talked about surveillance, his comments about "law and order" and authoritarian tendencies do not make civil liberties advocates comfortable. If you read through the article linked above, it details the massive expansion of surveillance infrastructure under the outgoing Obama administration, which will be in the hands of the incoming Trump administration. This has to be a little scary, right?

The NSA has at least considered employing similar tactics in the United States. In a top-secret memo dated Oct. 3, 2012, Alexander raised the possibility of using vulnerabilities discovered in mass data — “viewing sexually explicit material online,” for instance — to damage reputations. The agency could, say, smear individuals it believed were radicalizing others in an effort to diminish their influence.

Good times everyone! We are living in good times!