This week is the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Is their lasting legacy greater security for Americans from terrorist attacks because of everything the United States has done in their aftermath? Or, is it the erosion of our privacy and freedom? (Read the full column at EWRoss.com)
Filed under: Terrorism, 9/11 attacks, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda leaders, Anwar al-Awlaqi, Arabian Peninsula, Arkansas, best and brightest, CISPA, civil liberties, data mining, domestic terrorism, e-mail traffic, Ed Ross, eleventh anniversary, email, erosion of our privacy, ewross, facial recognition software, financial records, FISA, Fort Hood Texas, freedom, Horn of Africa, infringements on our privacy, internet surfing habits, Iraq, Islamic terrorists, Little Rock, mass-destruction terrorist attack, monitoring of our communications, Muslim convert, network traffic, Osama Bin Laden, our Constitution, person of interest, phone conversations, red-light camera, retinal scanning, smartphone, social networks, surveillance cameras, telecommunication companies, terrorist attacks, The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, The Patriot Act, thermal facial analysis, Transportation Security Agency, TSA screeners, U.S. Army Major Nidal Hassan, U.S. Army private, U.S. law enforcement, U.S. military, United States, warrantless access, warrantless wiretaps, web browsing
LinkedIn Group: International Relations Professional Discussions
Discussion: THE LASTING LEGACY OF 9/11
Ed: Many of the restrictions introduced by the Patriot Act -with the exception of intrusive searches at airports- only resemble those in force in Europe for a very long time. For instance wiretapping in many instances can be undertaken withou a judicial warrant. In France where I currently live the Minister of Defense can order wiretapping in many cases, such as a suspected threat to national defense, suspicion of espionage, etc. In the UK the Home office minister has extensive powers. Europeans often criticize the (temporary) Patriot Act while they have had the same restrictions for ages.
Posted by Giles Raymond DeMourot
LinkedIn Group: The Political Coffeehouse
Discussion: THE LASTING LEGACY OF 9/11
Author will be on 60 Minutes tonight.
Dear Reader,
It’s the book the Pentagon doesn’t want you to read, claiming it has “secrets” no American should know.
After weeks of anticipation, the SEAL book that gives a gripping, eyewitness account of the historic raid that brought down Osama bin Laden has been released.
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden has exploded into the #1-selling book in America.
On Sunday, “60 Minutes” will be interviewing the author, Matt Bissonnette, a.k.a. Mark Owen.
In fact, demand for the shocking SEAL tell-all has been so great that its publisher was forced to rush No Easy Day into print and is now scrambling to print more copies.
To say the book arrives with much controversy would be an understatement.
The Pentagon has already chastised the former Navy SEAL who penned No Easy Day for breaking his pledge to secrecy and divulging military secrets.
The Defense Department is threatening legal action.
The author insists he revealed no classified information.
He also says the book is not political. But the AP reported the book offers disparaging comments about President Obama and Vice President Biden.
In No Easy Day, Matt Bissonnette (writing under the pseudonym Mark Owen) details what really happened inside bin Laden’s compound and accuses President Obama of taking too much credit for green-lighting the mission.
Posted by Jennifer Wise ( LION Networker 4700+!)
LinkedIn Group: U.S. Veteran
Discussion: THE LASTING LEGACY OF 9/11
Greater security for good people.
Posted by John Cameron
LinkedIn Group: POLITICAL WORLD
Discussion: THE LASTING LEGACY OF 9/11
“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
― Benjamin Franklin
Posted by costin rusu
LinkedIn Group: International Relations Professional Discussions
Discussion: THE LASTING LEGACY OF 9/11
Giles,
All well and good. But which of those European countries (if any) could match of wonderful TSA for ineptitude and bureaucratic sloth? I think Ed raises a valid point that many Americans have lost or are starting to lose their patience with TSA and its largely untrained hordes of inspectors. At 11 years out, the American TSA has barely begun to employ advance clearance procedures for frequent flyers, for example.
Posted by Richard Schwartz
LinkedIn Group: International Relations Professional Discussions
Discussion: THE LASTING LEGACY OF 9/11
Richard: Oh, I think they can. When shoe-bomber Richard Reid wanted to board American Airlines flight 63 to Miami in December 2001 et Paris Charles De Gaulle AA would not let him board on the grounds that he was acting suspiciously. French police insisted that he be allowed on the flight and so ha was. Only his clumsiness and the timely and forceful intervention of the passenger next to him averted a catastrophe.
European countries however are far smaller than the US and the size of their bureaucracy corresponds to that of the country: they are more manageable.
Posted by Giles Raymond DeMourot