I would say that counterterrorism efforts in the US have not affected the rights of ordinary citizens in the way that many of the right-wing alarmists had warned. Or one thing, there is an acceptable level of government interference for the purposes of security. My example of this is the changes in air-travel screening and the TSA. I remember as a young boy following my dad to the gate of his flight as watching his plane take off. Have my children lost this? Military spouses with valid military ID cards are still allowed to take their children to the departure gate when their Soldier leaves, but this right is not guaranteed for civilians. Is this a basic human right? Absolutely not.
I often wonder if the reason so many people view the increased security at departure ports as invasive is that the previous measures were much too lax. Concerns over privacy are commonly raised with new body scanning techniques and more frequent pat-downs of individuals. Many people feel that checking children and the elderly is ridiculous. I have also had people at the gate grumbling that I – when I am in my uniform – should not be checked.
Contrary to what the general public thinks, military in uniform do warrant special privileges. I rarely remove my boots. I am often allowed to board in the first-class or even pilot lane. I know many people who avoided questioning when random tests turned up with gunpowder and explosives on their hands by showing deployment orders. Those returning from theater for leave or going back to theater are regularly upgraded to first class.
Comedian Lewis Black had a routine in which he said that the terrorists have won because they have made us paranoid – “they may be unscrupulous, but they are not masters of disguise”. The routine is funny, but I am glad that clearer heads do not think this way. As we have seen many times in this course already, terrorists do not always have turbans, beards, or yell Allahu akbar. Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and Ted Kaczynski are examples of terrorists who do not fit the post 9/11 profile. Even more appalling are terrorists such as Major Nidal Hassan who killed fifteen Soldiers on a military base. It is precisely events such as these that prove we should not pigeonhole terrorists based on appearance, religious belief, or even service to one’s country.
The most questionable effects on civil rights are the actions of Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) (USDOJ, n.d.) across the United States. Some of the tactics boarder on entrapment as they provide explosives, blueprints, detonators, or other equipment. In the case I used for our week one forum, we find a retired Army veteran (note this fits with above) who expressed a desire and plan to bomb military and civilian targets across the United States (FBI, 2012).
To the credit of these type of sting operations, the individuals are not being charged with terrorism. They are not even being routinely charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, or attempted murder. The most common charges are owning or attempting to obtain illegal firearms or explosives, lying to federal agents, or even smuggling. This allows them to be tightly controlled after release – by denying them the right to own any firearm, and allowing questioning when the felon is seen talking to known criminals. It does carefully walk a thin line between protecting civilians and protecting the right of innocent until proven guilty.
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