TOWN HALL JOURNAL - SPRING 2007
Increased Government Surveillance A Threat to National Security?
Nadine Strossen, President of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told a Town Hall audience on November 16, 2006 that some post-9/11 measures intended to increase homeland security not only diminish civil liberties but also hurt security efforts.
The noon luncheon was held at the Japanese American National Museum, and was hosted by the Japanese American National Museum and the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy.
In her Town Hall speech, Strossen claimed that provisions of the US Constitution prohibiting the government from invading an individual’s freedom or privacy without, “…a particular reason to believe that that particular person poses a threat,” not only protect civil liberties, they also improve homeland security. Fourth Amendment limits on government surveillance strengthen security, Strossen avowed, by ensuring the government applies its resources, “…in the most strategic, effective way, toward those individuals who actually pose threats.”
Strossen criticized many government surveillance programs because, “They sweep in too much information about too many innocent people and they make it harder to hone in on the dangerous ones.
