Randall Murch cannot share his secrets from classified missions he was involved in as an FBI agent.
But he will be speaking at 7:30 tonight in the Pugh Hall Ocora about the criminal surveillance lessons he learned over more than 25 years in the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
Murch is the associate director of research program development at Virginia Tech’s Center for Technology Security, and Policy. He will discuss how the U.S. government tracks suspected criminals in order to keep its citizens safe.
“I’m going to talk about how surveillance is used and the societal implications,” Murch said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I’m then going to let the audience decide for themselves what we should do.”
Since Sept. 11, American society has become more acclimated to increasing levels of public surveillance, he said. As this trend continues, policymakers must be careful to maintain a proper balance between safety and the preservation of civil liberties, he said.
The speech, which is sponsored by Center for Humanities in the Public Sphere at UF, is the third lecture in a four-part series on identity-tracking technologies.
Murch is traveling from Virginia. He will not be paid for his speech, but the Center for Humanities in the Public Sphere at UF will cover travel costs.
The event is free and open to the public.
