Happy 8th Anniversary, Patriot Act

Monday, October 26, 2009

Julian Sanchez, research fellowjsanchez@cato.org:

We've now had eight years to assess the effects of the sprawling USA PATRIOT Act, passed with extraordinary haste in the panic-stricken aftermath of 9/11.

It has become clear in the interim that, as civil libertarians feared at the time, several of the law's provisions lacked adequate checks to protect innocent Americans from sweeping government surveillance. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that our past intelligence failures were not the result of insufficient spying power. We can also see, from a steady stream of reports from both the press and government watchdogs, that diluting the civil liberties safeguards put in place after the rampant abuses of the Nixon era has only invited new abuses. As Congress debates the reauthorization of several key Patriot provisions, our representatives now have an opportunity to strike a more careful balance, and put to rest the misguided notion that our civil liberties are a security risk.

Unfortunately, President Obama—a critic of his predecessor's surveillance excesses—appears loath to surrender powers he once condemned. His administration has sought to kill all but the most cosmetic reform proposals. The easy course for legislators will be to surrender to inertia and fearmongering, but if they are serious about protecting Americans' privacy and freedom, a thorough overhaul of the burgeoning post-9/11 surveillance state is the only truly patriotic act.

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