--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This wholesale invasion of Americans’ and…" description: "\"This wholesale invasion of Americans’ and foreign citizens’ privacy does not contribute to our security; it puts in danger the very liberties we’re try..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/daniel-ellsberg-11718_citizens_this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and_529491.jpg" --- # This wholesale invasion of Americans’ and foreign… ![“This wholesale invasion of Americans’ and foreign citizens’ privacy does not contribute to our security; it puts in danger the very liberties we’re trying to protect.” quote by Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/daniel-ellsberg-11718_citizens_this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and_529491.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/daniel-ellsberg-11718_citizens_this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and_529491.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/daniel-ellsberg-11718_citizens_this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and_529491.jpg) > “This wholesale invasion of Americans’ and foreign citizens’ privacy does not contribute to our security; it puts in danger the very liberties we’re trying to protect.” [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mass surveillance erodes privacy and threatens freedoms, undermining the very security it claims to protect. **In simple terms:** Surveillance harms liberty. Key Takeaway Balance security with privacy rights. Themes privacy security civil liberties Mood concerned thoughtful Type analytical policy-oriented When to use this quote - public policy debates - digital security - legal reforms - citizen activism Key Concepts government overreach surveillance ethics Questions to Reflect On - How can societies protect security while preserving privacy? - What safeguards are needed against abuse? A Different Perspective Security measures can be effective without invasive monitoring. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cybersecurity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cybersecurity/) [Danger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/danger/) [Invasion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invasion/) [Liberties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberties/) [Liberty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberty/) [Privacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/privacy/) [Security](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/security/) ## Related quotes > [In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-adams/in-the-midst-of-these-pleasing-ideas-we-should-be-unfaithful-to/) [Samuel Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-adams/) > [With this acting and this lifestyle, your privacy does get taken a little.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-keoghan/with-this-acting-and-this-lifestyle-your-privacy-does-get-taken-a/) [Barry Keoghan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-keoghan/) > [An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means.There is no such thing in the country.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/an-american-has-no-sense-of-privacy-he-does-not-know-what-it-means/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Do you believe today that the right to privacy does exist in the Constitution?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arlen-specter/do-you-believe-today-that-the-right-to-privacy-does-exist-in-the/) [Arlen Specter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arlen-specter/) > [This has been a learning experience for me. I also thought that privacy was something we were granted in the Constitution. I have learned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/this-has-been-a-learning-experience-for-me-i-also-thought-that/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [But the time has come for journalists to acknowledge that a zone of privacy does exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-mudd/but-the-time-has-come-for-journalists-to-acknowledge-that-a-zone-of/) [Roger Mudd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-mudd/) > [Fashion brands looking for explosive growth go the wholesale route, to get their products into stores, but then they end up relying on those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chad-hurley/fashion-brands-looking-for-explosive-growth-go-the-wholesale-route-to/) [Chad Hurley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chad-hurley/) > [The mistake we make is to turn upon our past with angry wholesale negation. … The way of wisdom is to treat it airily,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cowper-powys/the-mistake-we-make-is-to-turn-upon-our-past-with-angry-wholesale/) [John Cowper Powys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cowper-powys/) > [We built that into a wholesale business that became, really, one of the largest companies in the United States. We had success in building…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-skilling/we-built-that-into-a-wholesale-business-that-became-really-one-of-the/) [Jeffrey Skilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-skilling/) > [I call on the Australian Government to set out the conditions upon which they will provide a taxpayer funded backing for wholesale term funding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-bishop/i-call-on-the-australian-government-to-set-out-the-conditions-upon/) [Julie Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-bishop/) > [There's only one thing harder than living in a home with an adolescent - and that's being an adolescent. The moodiness, the volatility, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-kluger/there-s-only-one-thing-harder-than-living-in-a-home-with-an/) [Jeffrey Kluger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-kluger/) > [Leo Tolstoy, the greatest anti-patriot of our time, defines patriotism as the principle that will justify the training of wholesale murderers; a trade that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-goldman/leo-tolstoy-the-greatest-anti-patriot-of-our-time-defines-patriotism/) [Emma Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-goldman/) > [Although lynchings have steadily increased in number and barbarity during the last twenty years, there has been no single effort put forth by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/although-lynchings-have-steadily-increased-in-number-and-barbarity/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [We need to ask ourselves a question: Do we trust God? Is he not the same yesterday, today, and forever? And if he is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-shea/we-need-to-ask-ourselves-a-question-do-we-trust-god-is-he-not-the/) [Matt Shea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-shea/) > [There is nothing more appalling than the wholesale way in which unthinking people plead to the Almighty the richest and most spiritual of His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-henry-drummond/there-is-nothing-more-appalling-than-the-wholesale-way-in-which/) [William Henry Drummond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-henry-drummond/) ## More by Daniel Ellsberg > [If monarchy is corrupting - and it is - wait till you see what overt empire does to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/if-monarchy-is-corrupting-and-it-is-wait-till-you-see-what-overt/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [There are some things that should not be leaked without authorization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/there-are-some-things-that-should-not-be-leaked-without-authorization/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [“The cliché that “everything leaks; it all comes out in the New York Times eventually” is emphatically not true, above all for sensitive compartmented…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/the-clich-that-everything-leaks-it-all-comes-out-in-the-new-york/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [“The fact is that the estimate of fatalities, in terms of what was calculable at that time—even before the discovery of nuclear winter—was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/the-fact-is-that-the-estimate-of-fatalities-in-terms-of-what-was/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [It is a tribute to the American people that our leaders perceived that they had to lie to us, it is not a tribute…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/it-is-a-tribute-to-the-american-people-that-our-leaders-perceived/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [“Khrushchev told Norman Cousins, a few months after the crisis, his reaction at the time: When I asked the military advisors if they could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/khrushchev-told-norman-cousins-a-few-months-after-the-crisis-his/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [I agree that there are things that should be kept secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/i-agree-that-there-are-things-that-should-be-kept-secret/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [If there's another 9/11 or a major war in the Middle-East involving a U.S. attack on Iran, I have no doubt that there will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/if-there-s-another-9-11-or-a-major-war-in-the-middle-east-involving-a/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [“Dwight Eisenhower had secretly endorsed the blueprints of this multi-genocide machine. He had furthermore demanded, largely for budgetary reasons, that there be no other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/dwight-eisenhower-had-secretly-endorsed-the-blueprints-of-this-multi/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [My feelings of revulsion and foreboding about nuclear weapons had not changed an iota since 1945, and they have never left me. Since I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/my-feelings-of-revulsion-and-foreboding-about-nuclear-weapons-had-not/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [We need the courage to face the truth about what we are doing in the world and act responsibly to change it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/we-need-the-courage-to-face-the-truth-about-what-we-are-doing-in-the/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [It is urgent to prevent new U.S. aggression. The time is now for the world to say 'no' to U.S. threats of air attack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/it-is-urgent-to-prevent-new-u-s-aggression-the-time-is-now-for-the/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [“Whether rightly or wrongly, we are the only country in the world that believes it won a war by bombing—specifically by bombing cities with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/whether-rightly-or-wrongly-we-are-the-only-country-in-the-world-that/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [“Throughout the Cold War such priorities reflected a command environment in which —it was regarded as overwhelmingly more important to assure a Go response…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/throughout-the-cold-war-such-priorities-reflected-a-command/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [There should be at least one leak like the Pentagon Papers every year.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/there-should-be-at-least-one-leak-like-the-pentagon-papers-every-year/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) [Explore all 58 Daniel Ellsberg quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) ## More Citizens quotes > [Politics is not an issue whether you like or dislike , but every citizen must involve.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khem-veasna/politics-is-not-an-issue-whether-you-like-or-dislike-but-every/) [Khem Veasna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khem-veasna/) > [I will be a model prisoner, as I have been a model citizen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-edwards/i-will-be-a-model-prisoner-as-i-have-been-a-model-citizen/) [Edwin Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-edwards/) > [The language we share is at the core of our identity as citizens, and our ticket to full participation in American political life. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-i-hayakawa/the-language-we-share-is-at-the-core-of-our-identity-as-citizens-and/) [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) > [Jeff Chu's pilgrimage across America to discover his own place as a gay man in the Christian church as well as attitudes about being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-freitas/jeff-chu-s-pilgrimage-across-america-to-discover-his-own-place-as-a/) [Donna Freitas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-freitas/) > [“The police ultimately pay the price for poor customer service when citizens become fearful of them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/the-police-ultimately-pay-the-price-for-poor-customer-service-when/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) > [Worship isn't destructive, Martin. I know that. I don't. I only know it's the core of his life. What else has he got? He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-shaffer/worship-isn-t-destructive-martin-i-know-that-i-don-t-i-only-know-it-s/) [Peter Shaffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-shaffer/) > [No greater victory can be won by citizens or soldiers than to transform temporary foes into permanent friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-jennings-bryan/no-greater-victory-can-be-won-by-citizens-or-soldiers-than-to/) [William Jennings Bryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-jennings-bryan/) > [Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in bonds of fraternal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/let-us-at-all-times-remember-that-all-american-citizens-are-brothers/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [A free society depends upon a high degree of mutual trust. The public will not give that trust to officials who are not seen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/archibald-cox/a-free-society-depends-upon-a-high-degree-of-mutual-trust-the-public/) [Archibald Cox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/archibald-cox/) > [My dreams were always small and puny. All I ever needed was a little house with a little picket fence by the sea. Little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/imelda-marcos/my-dreams-were-always-small-and-puny-all-i-ever-needed-was-a-little/) [Imelda Marcos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/imelda-marcos/) > [The average ordinary citizen can do a lot of different things when it comes to the climate crisis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-bender/the-average-ordinary-citizen-can-do-a-lot-of-different-things-when-it/) [Lawrence Bender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-bender/) > [I think most of us are raised with preconceived notions of the choices we're supposed to make. We waste so much time making decisions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-bullock/i-think-most-of-us-are-raised-with-preconceived-notions-of-the/) [Sandra Bullock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-bullock/) > [Without the ability to talk about government power, there's no way for citizens to make sure this power isn't being misused.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-swartz/without-the-ability-to-talk-about-government-power-there-s-no-way-for/) [Aaron Swartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-swartz/) > [Consequently, citizen legislators, rotating back to their communities after a short period of public service—considered an indispensable and routine characteristic and design of representative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/consequently-citizen-legislators-rotating-back-to-their-communities/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [What I will stand up for is what I think is right and for the best interests of the citizens of the state of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patty-judge/what-i-will-stand-up-for-is-what-i-think-is-right-and-for-the-best/) [Patty Judge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patty-judge/) Browse all 4,189 Citizens quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "This wholesale invasion of Americans’ and foreign citizens’ privacy does not contribute to our security; it puts in danger the very liberties we’re trying to protect.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Daniel Ellsberg" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and-foreign-citizens-privacy/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Citizens" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and-foreign-citizens-privacy/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/daniel-ellsberg-11718_citizens_this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and_529491.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/daniel-ellsberg-11718_citizens_this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and_529491.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/daniel-ellsberg-11718_citizens_this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and_529491.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This wholesale invasion of Americans’ and foreign citizens’ privacy does not contribute to our security; it…” — Daniel Ellsberg", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Daniel Ellsberg", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This wholesale invasion of Americans’ and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and-foreign-citizens-privacy/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/this-wholesale-invasion-of-americans-and-foreign-citizens-privacy/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```