For the greater good is always, always a question in matters of national interest/security. As much as you may want to ignore the this fact, it will always be present. Cutting taxes, expanding health care, cutting or increasing spending, almost anything the government does will affect some people positively, and other's negatively, that is a fact, and you cannot argue otherwise.
Now you cannot ignore this fact, and pretend like the people we elect for office should not ask them selfs if the means justify the end, or if something is really for the greater good. Because they do, and they do it in a daily basis. Obviously these decisions should not be taken lightly, and the perspective of the decision maker is the only one that will truly justify it. For example if you asked me the same question that someone posted above, about my son being captured by terrorist, I would tell you without a doubt that we should NOT kill the terrorist so that my son may live. That is my perspective, and your's, since my son is not your son, could be very, very different.
So people here saying that we are a police state, communist leaning, and etc, how dare you make these assumptions, while knowing NOTHING of the facts, NOTHING of the people involved, NOTHING of their motivations. STOP passing judgement by association, of people or ideas, STOP watching Fox News, and MSNBC, START reading more and making your own decisions based on FACTS. FACTS.
It is easy for you to bundle up all the people that choose to dedicate their lives for this country, as the "government", because all you have to do is criticize it, you don't have to answer to, or be responsible for anything. The matter of the fact is that people who are employed by the U.S government are just that, people, and like you and me they have believes and morals, some of them were elected by the people, some where not. To the elected officials, who after all are in charge, you own accountability, call, email, do anything you can to let that person know what you, and everyone you know (if thats the case), think of they job that they are doing, and if you nothing changes, guess what? Vote against them. But thats too hard, isn't it? Much easier is to sit on your computer and criticize EVERYONE that works for the government, and the government itself. Forget about the fact that the government is made of people what we the people elect.