Carol M. Bast & Cynthia A. Brown, A Contagion of Fear: Post-9/11 Alarm Expands Executive Branch Authority and Sanctions Prosecutorial Exploitation of America’s Privacy

Carol M. Bast & Cynthia A. Brown, A Contagion of Fear:  Post-9/11 Alarm Expands Executive Branch Authority and Sanctions Prosecutorial Exploitation of America’s Privacy

Comment by: Laura Donohue

PLSC 2010

Workshop draft abstract:

Following the attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States launched the “War on Terrorism” or “War on Terror” as the action has become known.  According to the Bush Administration, the phrase encompassed the nation’s military, political, legal and ideological conflict with Islamic extremism and extremists’ use of terrorism to propel their agenda.  Ironically, Al-Qaeda’s weapon, the use of fear as a means of coercion, in some respects now serves dually as a tool for some of our nation’s leaders.  The very same influence of fear that served as the terrorists’ objective is also used by government leaders to coerce expanded government power at the expense of individual liberties.  In essence, the fear created by the terrorists has become a contagion of fear with the accompanying contagion-like effects.  The influence of that fear, particularly of further terrorist attacks, is used by American leaders to justify subverting the nation’s constitutional freedoms and guarantees, the very same freedoms and guarantees that Operation Enduring Freedom is fighting to protect. As a result, many Americans are quick to support any government action which combats this threat and ensures national security.

After September 11, this contagion of fear stimulates the public support needed by government officials to further political and legal agendas that would otherwise be significantly more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.  One such agenda concerns the issue of privacy and government surveillance, specifically as these are impacted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). It seems that individuals are willing to cede communication privacy to the government in exchange for national security without realizing the ramifications of their actions.  This paper examines the need for balance between privacy and national security under FISA and policy considerations for the future.