NSA - Cheney: NSA eavesdropping critical to U.S. security - Vice president Cheney argues in defense of the previously covert NSA eavesdropping program (which allowed for the eavesdropping on al Qaeda operatives, including those that are American), claiming that it is vital for national security, although some question the program's legality and argue that it violates civil liberties.
In my opinion, civil liberties are maintained, to any degree, by the government, which, under the constitution, is obligated to ensure freedom to its compliant governed. However, this cannot occur if the government itself is threatened. Since the people elect their representatives, who in turn form the governing body, any threat to either the people or the government is a direct assault upon the people. Thus, in order for the people to have their civil liberties, they need to protect themselves and the government, which grants them those liberties, first. This eavesdropping program may be an infringement upon certain individual's rights, but this is imperative in order to protect the nation as a whole. If the government infringes upon the rights of those individuals who wish harm to their own government and to their people, then, by the natural right to self-preservation, which supercedes human law, the program is (was, in this case) necessary, in order to ensure the safety of the said government and people.