Civil Liberties Paper

The U.S. government must be able to restrict civil liberties in order to protect security during times of war. It is the government's responsibility to protect its citizens. As someone once said "extraordinary times deserve extraordinary measures." This became apparent on September 11, 2001.

After 9/11, the U.S. government passed major anti-terrorism legislation in order to protect its nation from future terrorist attacks. This new law allowed the sharing of information between all levels of state and federal government, including intelligence services and the INS in regards to terrorism. Prior to this, most of these agencies operated autonomously. Douglas Kmiec, dean of the Catholic University School of Law stated that "The lack of sharing under the current law has been a particular problem with international organized crime rings that may aid or assist terrorists or spies." (Security vs. Civil Rights?)

Another segment of this legislation led to the expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This added legislation allowed roving wiretaps and surveillance of cell phones and the Internet. Douglas Kmiec stated that "Expanding that same capacity to include identifying URLs and the like on email only makes sense in light of both the new technology and what we already know about how the enemies of mankind of September 11 carried out their plotting." (Security vs. Civil Rights?)

The sharing of terrorist information between agencies and the surveillance of phone and Internet are important deterrents against terrorism. The agencies that are empowered to protect their citizens in time of war cannot do so without these expanded powers. Sometimes certain civil liberties must be restricted for the of the nation.