Imagine child molesters, Neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan Members, and drug dealers. Most logical people who have passed kindergarten would agree that people belonging to these groups are bad people. Most Americans would believe that it would be nice if law enforcement officials could eradicate these criminals from the face of the earth.
Still, besides containing criminals and generally just bad people, these groups have something else in common: All have been supported and defended by the American Civil Liberties Union. In fact, at the ACLU website, the press releases defending these groups are proudly displayed.
So who is surprised by their recent display of affection for terrorists? When will the ACLU stop the fear and smear campaigns that seek to trick people into supporting the wrong side?
Most recently, the ACLU has enlisted the support of students on campus to lobby the JHU Student Council for passage of legislation that condemns the U.S. Patriot Act. Admittedly, when I came back to school after Summer break, I did not know much about the U.S. Patriot Act. Unfortunately, busy students on college campuses are easy targets for the ACLU's lies.
Thankfully, the Justice Department has posted a wonderfully detailed website that includes an entire text of the Patriot Act, as well as excellent explanations dispelling the myths perpetuated by the ACLU (www.lifeandliberty.gov).
The ACLU has claimed that "Many [people] are unaware that their library habits could become the target of government surveillance. In a free society, such monitoring is odious and unnecessary. . . The secrecy that surrounds section 215 leads us to a society where the "thought police' can target us for what we choose to read or what Websites we visit." (ACLU, July 22, 2003)
The official government response begins with a pretty logical statement: "The Patriot Act specifically protects Americans' First Amendment rights, and terrorism investigators have no interest in the library habits of ordinary Americans."
As the Justice Department notes, spies and terrorists have historically used libraries to plan activities that threaten national security. Furthermore, examining business records (including library records) is an old tool of law enforcement administered through a subpoena.
The change that the Patriot Act institutes is not as simple as the ACLU would have you think. The government has always been able to obtain your library records. The change is that the federal government can ask the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to issue a subpoena in secret rather than having to go through the public grand jury process.
Obviously, if terrorists knew they were being investigated, they would probably destroy the evidence. Thus, in the instance of a national security case in which thousands of lives are in jeopardy, a grand jury is not appropriate.
Furthermore, before obtaining a subpoena, the government has the burden of proof in showing that "the records concerned are sought for an authorized investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a U.S. person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a U.S. person is not conducted solely on the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment."
If this is not enough to ensure justice, then how about the fact that the statute goes even further and requires the Attorney General to fully inform Congress on government use of business records under the Patriot Act every six months?
The House Judiciary Committee noted on October 17th, 2002 that "The Committee's review of classified information related to FISA orders for tangible records, such as library records, has not given rise to any concern that the authority is being misused or abused."
The point of all of this is that the ACLU is making a concerted effort to scare people into living in fear of the very government that is protecting them. No provision of the Patriot Act has been decreed unconstitutional by any court. Why should we students ask the government to fight the war on terrorism with a handicap? The ACLU loves to quote the Constitution...how about we remember the promise to "provide for the common defense?"
Eric Wolkoff is a junior political science major from Wayland, Mass.
