Surveillance and the inversion of democratic transparency

Abstract

The traditional structure of a democracy includes people that have the right to live largely private lives and a government that has few secrets because it is empowered by the people to act in their name. The workings of a democratic government should be transparent to its constituents. This Chapter discusses how national security-related surveillance and the secrecy with which it is conducted invert the democratic structure of transparency in ways that corrode the polity. While secret law is anathema to a liberal democracy and is well-established in the United States, transparency with regard to national security surveillance programs has been and will continue to be a challenge post-9/11.