Governments are justified in circumventing civil laws when doing so is vital to the protection of national security.

If the government themselves cannot be trusted to uphold the laws of the land upon which they govern over, then what is the purpose of having such laws in the first place? Once the decision is made to over pass the civil laws made by the people and their representatives, the government has made the statement that they are above the law. Thus, it would not be justifiable for governments to circumvent civil laws in order to “protect national security”.
For example, when Snowden came out as a whistleblower in the 2010’s, the government was quick to react to his claims and leaked reports, and declared him a threat to national security. In doing so, they administered punishment to a private citizen for giving people information they did not want the public to know. The governments aggressiveness towards this issue raised concerns from the American public about what the government deemed “protection of national security”. If the government breaks laws behind the public’s back in the name of protecting the people, then what good are these laws in the first place? Who else if not the national government is meant to uphold the laws of the land for the wellbeing of the country? When the government crosses a line and makes the decision to circumvent the laws meant for every citizen, then those citizens not in power will begin to question the very foundation the government is built on.
Secondly, this breaking of civil laws can make the country look very poorly in the eyes of other countries around the world and ultimately backfire later on. For example, if the government decides to go forth with their presumptions that their actions are of the utmost importance and ignore the civil laws, not only their own citizens are affected. Their actions are not overlooked by neighboring countries who keep track of what they do and their motivations for doing so. Such an example includes police brutality and the black lives matter movement. If the government breaks or circumvents these civil laws and in the end there was not an adequate reason to do so, it casts a negative shadow on the respectability of the said government. This can result in these neighboring governments not trusting them moving forward, understanding that they are dealing with an entity that has no respect even for its own people.
Lastly, breaking laws sets a rocky precedent for what is allowed in the future under different administrations. Take for example the hotbed issue in America currently, which concerns ICE raids and refugee camps that hold immigrating people. The American government has faced criticism from the public for their methods in choosing to extract those who enter the country illegally. The civil law states that correct forms are needed in order for the ICE to come into these immigrants houses and take them for questioning, but in recent events there have been cases where the government operatives perform such tasks without the necessary papers, breaking these civil laws. These immigrants are then placed in refugee camps where they have abysmal living conditions. The government can say that they circumvent civil laws in order to protect the national security, but in many of these cases these people are non-violent asylum seekers who pose no threat. Because of this, the general public then starts to wonder if this kind of behavior by the government is accepted now, what activities will the government condone in the future?
In conclusion, the government should not be justified to break civil laws in order to protect national security. This is due to the fact that once broken, trust is difficult to regain. If the government breaks these laws and then demands the same level of respect from the public from before, they can find themselves hard pressed to receive this enthusiasm and trust. These laws are made by the people, for the people, and the government should not be above the people. In the case of America, the eyes of the world are on us at all times. Circumventing civil laws only shows the world how little the government truly cares about the people they serve.