Has More Surveillance Made Americans Safer After 9/11? (Man on the Street)

So just tell me your name, and do you feel safer in the post-9/11 world?

Name is Adam Schwer, Army veteran, deployed, dealt with all the fallout of 9/11.

My name is Brooks.

Gerald Dunn.

Luke.

How old are you, Luke?

22.

22.

My name is Sean, and no, I was not born.

What year were you born?

2008.

2008. How do you feel in terms of safety In the post-9/11 era, you know, we saw the Patriot Act, Homeland Security Act, the growth of the Department of Homeland Security, TSA at the airport, NSA surveillance, you know, all the stuff that we've seen the last 25 years. Do you think that's made the world safer?

Look who's running our country. Look who's running this country. Are you kidding me? I mean, TV personalities. Every—

all the—

everybody with knowledge and years and years of experience, even if you didn't agree with them, They had experience and they've been fired. For people that like have a hand's cheekbones, high cheekbones, and were on TV, that's who's running this country. We're in a very dangerous position.

I think there's pros and cons to having more surveillance. I think right now we're starting to see a lot of the cons where it's just like a lot of AI. People are being like chased into the— like chased to their houses, like being accused of crimes they didn't commit. I think both sides are really important. You gotta like have a little bit of safety, but also like we also need to let people live their lives and not be like tracking every move that they make.

Generally, no. I think a lot of it's well-intentioned, but TSA is a joke. Anybody that wants to get past them can.

What about like the rise of facial recognition, NSA surveillance? You know, the stuff we're told is necessary because of 9/11.

Bro, we've had that 20 years, man. No, I mean, like, I've used it 10 years ago in the military. But, you know, we got all these flock cameras and everything. I don't think you have a choice. It's inevitable. It's just gonna get cheaper and easier. So like it, hate it, it's here.

I don't know. I mean— Like, does it bother you to know that on a daily basis your activities being monitored, could be monitored?

Do I prefer being monitored?

No.

Like, can I— do I think it could lead to safety stuff, like more safety? I mean, like, you can make that argument. Like, I generally don't like government surveillance.

Do you think that's a risky trade, trading some of our freedoms for alleged security?

Yeah, I think some people would make that trade and other people just not. Like, I don't— like, there probably is more security now than there was in the early 2000s. It's like with government surveillance, like, What is that, a positive trade-off? So I don't know.

I mean, I can't imagine a world with the before and after. So it is kind of hard for me to envision what it was like before again. But I think security is very important. So I think there's definitely a fine line between freedom and security. But I think in order to be more free, you need to be more secure. So I think it's kind of like a chicken and egg situation where you need one for the other.

So kind of balancing it.

Yeah.

Are you familiar with the Benjamin Franklin quote about freedom or security?

No.

So I don't know, this is paraphrasing it, but he said something along the lines of those who would trade freedom for security deserve neither. So it's something I always kind of reflect on. So do you think trading some of our freedoms for security is a worthy trade?

I think it depends on what we're giving up. I think like the flock cameras and stuff, it's just getting a little excessive and it's like, it kind of feels like we're just policing as opposed to like protecting. Like, I haven't seen a lot of stories of like them actually leading to like improvements.

What do you think? Are you familiar with like the flock cameras and all the debates going on around that? So they're like automatic license plate readers, these cameras that are popping up all over the country. And it's one of these examples of we're being told like this is to help catch children if they've been kidnapped or to catch criminals. And at the same time, these cameras which are being used with AI are also mistakenly targeting people and saying, hey, well, we saw your car in a car wreck or your car committed a crime. And then later they're like, whoops, my bad, the camera got it wrong. What do you think about that moving into that world where AI and surveillance is so pervasive that innocent people could be caught up in it?

Yeah, like, I just think those types of cameras, you shouldn't, like, be liable for them. But I don't know.

But do you think it's making the world safer?

I guess, yeah. I mean, technically. Is it making it worse though? Yeah.

Is it coming at the cost of our freedoms?

Yeah, well, absolutely. Yeah, you gotta, you gotta give to get. So you want security, you gotta give freedom. You gotta build a wall if you want security.

Do you think that is what the— for whatever it's worth in 2026, what the founders intended for us to give up our liberties in name of security?

Absolutely not.