American Government
and Organization
PS1301
Thursday, 2 December
Announcements
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Teaching evaluations
Last meeting next Tuesday. Will provide a review
sheet and attendance will be posted on the web.
Public Opinion on Restricting Civil
Liberties in the Fight Against Terror
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Do you think it is necessary to give up some
civil liberties in order to make the country safe
from terrorism, or do you think some of the
government’s proposals will go too far in
restricting the public’s civil liberties?
Necessary to give up some civil liberties 49%
 Government will go too far 38%
 Don’t know 13%
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Source Los Angeles Times Poll Aug 22-25, 2002
Public Opinion on National Identity Cards
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Would you favor or oppose the following
measures to curb terrorism: Requiring all citizens
to carry a national identity card to show to a
police officer on request?
Mid September 2002
 Mid August 2002
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70% in favor
58% in favor
Source: Pew Research Center Aug 14-25, 2002.
CBS News/New York Times Poll. Nov. 20-24, 2002. N=996 adults
nationwide. MoE ± 3 (total sample).
.
"Which concerns you more right now -- that the government will fail to
enact strong anti-terrorism laws, or that the government will enact new
anti-terrorism laws which excessively restrict the average person's civil
liberties?"
ALL
Republicans
Democrats
Independents
%
%
%
%
Fail to enact strong laws
40
53
29
40
Excessively restrict
liberties
44
29
59
43
Both (vol.)
2
3
1
2
Neither (vol.)
3
5
1
3
Don't know
11
10
10
12
.
Policy Responses to 9/11
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National Security
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Economic
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Joint resolution on 14 Sept. ‘to use all necessary and
appropriate force against nations…that he determines
planned…the terrorist attacks”
Patriot Act (October 2001)
Creation of Office of Homeland Security (OHS)
Airline relief bill (October 2001)
Military Response
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Invasion of Afghanistan
War in Iraq
Office of Homeland Security
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Modeled after the
National Security
Council which was
created at the end of
WW II. Responsible for
advising the president.
Advisor does not have
authority to tell federal
agencies what to do or
how much to spend.
Criticisms of OHS
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Not a cabinet level department; lacks statutory
mandate, Senate confirmation, and budget
authority
Impossible to coordinate different cabinet
agencies, ie. CIA, FBI, INS, DEA, FEMA, etc.
Effective integration is not guaranteed
Patriot Act Summary
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Enhances executive branch’s power to conduct
surveillance, search for money laundering, share
intelligence with criminal prosecutors and
charge/detain suspected terrorists with crimes.
Patriot Act Provisions

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Relaxes restrictions on information sharing between U.S. law enforcement and
intelligence officers about suspected terrorists.
Makes it illegal to knowingly harbor a terrorist
Authorizes "roving wiretaps,"
Allows the federal government to detain non-U.S. citizens suspected of
terrorism for up to seven days without specific charges.
Allows law enforcement officials greater subpoena power for e-mail records
of terrorist suspects.
Triples the number of Border Patrol, Customs Service Inspectors and
Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors
Expands measures against money laundering
Eliminates the statute of limitations for prosecuting the most egregious
terrorist acts
Patriot Act – Threat to Civil Liberties


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Change in protections from unreasonable search
and seizure
Detention of non-citizens, immigrants
Racial profiling
Video
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Weighing the Patriot Act: Background
Weighing the Patriot Act: Discussion
The Newshour with Jim Lehrer [PBS]
 August 19, 2003
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SC hears case on “Enemy
Combatants”
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Hamdi v. Rumsfeld and Rumsfeld v. Padilla (2004)
The key figures in the cases are both American citizens: Yaser
Hamdi is a U.S.-born Saudi-American who was captured during
fighting in Afghanistan in 2001 and Jose Padilla is a former
Chicago gang member who traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan
before being arrested at a Chicago airport in 2002 on suspicion
of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United
States.
At issue is Habeas Corpus: an individual’s right not to be
imprisoned unless charged with a crime, except in time of
“rebellion or invasion”
Newshour Analysis.
The 9/11 Commission
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Bi-partisan panel forms the National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the
United States
Where the attacks preventable?
Rice testifies before the 9/11 Commission
Final Report
Recommendations

Primary recommendations focused on
centralizing intelligence
Creation of a new intelligence center and a director,
reporting directly to the president, who would have
authority over all intelligence groups, including the
CIA and the FBI
 Joint Congressional Committee for Intelligence for
Legislative Oversight
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Other policy options not adopted or
abandoned:
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TIPS – Terror Information and Prevention System
(govt./private sector workers ‘spies’). A hotline and web-based
reporting system using “those who work in the trucking,
maritime, shipping and mass transit industries.”
Terror Futures Market
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Traders could buy and sell futures contracts based on their predictions
about what would happen in the region.
Racial profiling at airports
Total Information Awareness (TIA)
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One giant database containing all information the government can gather
from existing government and private sector data banks. Use
sophisticated data mining to detect patterns indicating terrorist activity.