After 9/11, many Americans accepted that government and national security were taking aggressive surveillance action to prevent another terrorist attack. However, what the government and national security are doing is gathering as much information as possible to later use against the very people they claim to protect. What kind of information is the Government and Homeland Security gathering? How does this mass surveillance protect US citizens? Is it worth giving up privacy for security that may not protect anyone after all? Recently Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agent (NSA), claimed that the reason he leaked information from the government was to warn US citizens of the danger they face from government surveillance programs. According to Snowden, the NSA is collecting the context of every American's phone calls and Internet information, storing this mass of information for future use against the people it is supposed to protect. The government claims to have received an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) allowing it to collect metadata information from phone company Verizon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and others, to analyze the information for a possible threat to the United States. The problem is that the government's collection of information from all Americans violates the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which protects Americans from government intrusions into their private lives. In a recent article by Cato Institute researcher Julian Sanchez stated regarding a recent cyber attack against Google that: "It appears that Google hackers were interested in... gathering information... in the middle of paper... but they fear that the government that is supposed to protect them will turn around and use this information against them in the future. It is important that the government finds a solution to protect the privacy and security of all Americans without breaking the law." Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 19 April 2014. "Securing our freedom". Commonweal 140.12 (2013): 5. Opposing views in context. Web. April 9, 2014. Sanchez, Julian. “Surveillance cannot make us safe.” The nation (15 February 2010). Rpt. in civil liberties. Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing points of view in context. Network. April 7, 2014. Watts, Tim J. “Edward Snowden.” American government. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 10 April. 2014.