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Privacy Isn't the Price for Security

By Mike German
The Huffington Post
Posted on Friday January 8, 2010

There is no doubt that the events aboard an airliner heading for Detroit on Christmas Day sent a collective chill down the spines of travelers everywhere. The attempted attack on that plane could easily have ended tragically, and we’re all grateful it didn’t. In the aftermath, it’s necessary for political leaders to find out what went wrong and what more can be done to protect our nation against terrorism.

But while it’s important to react quickly, it’s also important to react wisely and to adopt procedures that will be both truly effective and the least invasive to Americans’ privacy.

After the 9/11 attacks, many policies — from the overly broad Patriot Act to indefinite detention to misguided airline security measures — that, unfortunately, succeeded in neither increasing our safety nor honoring our values were quickly adopted. We should learn from that experience and in circumstances like this one insist on security measures that are actually effective, rather than ones that just make us feel better.

To read the entire article, please click here

Check out Mike’s interview with Dr. Zogby on this week’s episode of Viewpoint with James Zogby