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January 31, 2006
Patriot Act balancing act
The sister of a pilot who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has a strongly worded message for Congress: renew the USA Patriot Act. Debra Burlingame's views are published in the Wall Street Journal in an op-ed piece entitled "Our Right to Security."
Burlingame reviews the decisions, policies and "risk-averse" cultures that prevented law enforcement and intelligence agencies from sharing information that might have unraveled the 9/11 plot. She criticizes the media as well as civil libertarians:
Why should we allow enemies to annihilate us simply because we lack the clarity or resolve to strike a reasonable balance between a healthy skepticism of government power and the need to take proactive measures to protect ourselves from such threats? The mantra of civil-liberties hard-liners is to "question authority" -- even when it is coming to our rescue -- then blame that same authority when, hamstrung by civil liberties laws, it fails to save us.
As the Patriot Act expires Friday, Congress' ability to walk the fine line between protection and privacy will continue to be tested.
Posted by Dalia Naamani-Goldman at January 31, 2006 05:39 AM
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