The NSA has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal

The words of Jared Polis, “The NSA has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times a year since Congress gave it broad new powers in 2008,” ring with the sorrow and warning of a citizen who sees the boundary between liberty and power beginning to blur. In these words, we hear not the cry of rebellion, but the lament of vigilance — a reminder that when the guardians of safety forget restraint, the very freedoms they are sworn to protect begin to wither. Polis speaks to an age-old truth: that every empire, every government, every ruler must be watched with care, for power unchecked is the seed of tyranny, and even noble intentions can lead a nation astray.

The origin of this quote lies in the revelations that shook the modern world — the era when the National Security Agency (NSA) was found to have conducted mass surveillance on citizens and allies alike. After the terror of the early twenty-first century, fear had become the hand that guided policy. In 2008, Congress granted the agency broad new powers, believing that greater eyes meant greater safety. Yet, as Polis warns, those same eyes turned inward, peering not only into the lairs of enemies, but into the homes and hearts of the innocent. Thus, the line between protection and intrusion grew thin, and the sacred covenant between the governed and their guardians was quietly strained.

In the wisdom of the ancients, such warnings were not new. The Roman historian Tacitus once wrote, “The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.” So too in every age does fear give birth to oversight, and oversight to overreach. The Athenians, after facing foreign invasion, built walls not only of stone but of suspicion; they turned their vigilance inward until their democracy decayed beneath the weight of mistrust. Polis’s words echo that same pattern, teaching that liberty dies not by invasion from without, but by the slow suffocation of secrecy within. When governments justify every breach of privacy in the name of security, they trade the fragile soul of freedom for the fleeting comfort of control.

Consider the story of Edward Snowden, the man whose conscience compelled him to unveil the depth of these intrusions. Like Prometheus, he defied authority to bring knowledge to the people — knowledge of how their privacy had been quietly surrendered in the name of safety. Whether hailed as hero or condemned as traitor, his act forced the world to confront a terrible truth: that the guardians of the law had become its violators, and that the shield of liberty had been turned into a net. His story mirrors Polis’s warning — that even institutions born to defend democracy can forget its essence when left unchallenged by the people’s watchful eye.

Yet, in his words, Polis does not call for despair, but for renewal. He reminds us that democracy, though fragile, is not helpless. The same Congress that granted power can restrain it; the same citizens who were spied upon can demand transparency. A mature democracy must forever balance its twin duties — to protect its people and to preserve their freedom. One without the other is hollow. For what is the worth of safety if it costs the soul of a nation? Better a people who live with risk in liberty than those who live in comfort beneath the eyes of unseen masters.

There is also a lesson here for every generation: trust, but never without accountability. Power is a flame — it gives warmth, but can consume the hand that holds it. A free people must never surrender the right to question, to challenge, to illuminate the shadows where authority grows too bold. The ancients built their republics upon this same foundation, teaching that the vigilance of the citizen is the price of peace. Polis’s voice joins that long lineage of guardians who remind us that freedom cannot be delegated; it must be lived and defended daily by all.

Let these words, then, be carried forward as both warning and hope. Beware the soft tyranny of good intentions; beware the silence that follows convenience. When governments act in secrecy, the people must answer with truth; when laws stretch beyond justice, they must be bent back by conscience. Jared Polis speaks as one who sees the delicate fabric of liberty — woven over centuries by courage and sacrifice — and calls upon us to keep it whole. Let the generations remember: security may guard the body, but only freedom guards the soul. And a nation that forgets this balance, no matter how mighty, begins its descent not from without, but from within.