WASHINGTON -- Dozens of groups worried about the future of free speech, privacy and other liberties in wartime have gathered together to ask Congress to tread carefully.
A quickly organized alliance of liberal, libertarian and conservative organizations, tentatively named the In Defense of Freedom coalition, says legislators should not rush to rewrite wiretapping, immigration and surveillance laws.
At noon Thursday, the group will hold a press conference at the National Press Club to present a list of principles they hope Congress will follow when weighing laws in response to last week's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
It may be a difficult political battle: Polls taken since last Tuesday show that Americans are willing to relinquish some freedom for greater security, and many politicians are eager to take a tough stand against terrorists.
"We will continue to resist intrusions and expansions of police authority," says Chris Hoofnagle, an analyst at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "I think serious questions need to be asked about why we need to increase surveillance of American citizens."
In response to last week's catastrophic terrorist attacks, President Bush plans to ask Congress to rewrite laws dealing with electronic surveillance, immigration and support for terrorists. Attorney General John Ashcroft has said that he hopes Congress will approve the bill by the end of the week.
These are some of the 10 principles, which had been signed by scores of groups and over 100 law professors and computer science professors as of Tuesday evening:
- "We can, as we have in the past, in times of war and of peace, reconcile the requirements of security with the demands of liberty."
- "We should resist efforts to target people because of their race, religion, ethnic background or appearance, including immigrants in general, Arab Americans and Muslims."
- "We affirm the right of peaceful dissent, protected by the First Amendment, now, when it is most at risk."
What prompted the groups to come together was a debate last Thursday evening on the Senate floor, during which legislators voted to let police use the FBI's Carnivore surveillance system without a court order in some circumstances.
At the time, senators complained they weren't given time to review the Carnivore legislation before voting.
"Maybe the Senate wants to just go ahead and adopt new abilities to wiretap our citizens," Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) said. "Maybe they want to adopt new abilities to go into people's computers. Maybe that will make us feel safer. Maybe. And maybe what the terrorists have done made us a little bit less safe. Maybe they have increased Big Brother in this country."
But Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), one of the co-sponsors, said the measure would hand police the vital powers they needed: "Experts in terrorism have been telling us for a long time and the director of the FBI has been telling us (to make) a few changes in the law that make it easier for our law enforcement people to do their job."
That vote was a wake-up call for Washington's network of nonprofit and advocacy groups, which gathered for a private strategy session Friday afternoon at the ACLU's offices on Maryland Avenue, across the street from the Supreme Court. Between 100 and 150 participants tried to squeeze into the ACLU's first-floor conference room, with many people ending up standing in the adjoining courtyard and hallway.
"Our overriding concern is that the country may move too far too quickly without a good plan, just for the appearance of doing something," says Bradley Jansen, an analyst at the Free Congress Foundation.
Lori Cole of the Eagle Forum says she's worried about a national I.D. card, tentatively endorsed by Rep. Mary Bono (R-California) during a recent newspaper interview.
"We are greatly afraid that in the name of anti-terrorism, they're going to suggest bad ideas," says Cole. "Bad ideas before are bad ideas now."
"National I.D. cards, government databases to track your travel and medical records -- all these types of proposals, I imagine, will be discussed," Cole says. "We do not want an American society where everyone is treated as a terrorist, money launderer, drug trafficker or criminal. That's not what we're about."
