The Department of Homeland Security has a big job. Right now, Tom Ridge, the department’s head, has a task that includes merging 22 federal agencies and 170,000 employees into one giant department. Clearly this isn’t an easy task—especially with the possibility of war hanging over the country’s head. He also has the job of stopping potential terrorists from crossing the nation’s thousands of miles of borders.
Unfortunately, with the implementation of legislation such as the Patriot Act and the new security measures that came along with them, the civil liberties and privacy rights of American citizens and those non-citizens who are merely spending some time on United States’ soils are being compromised with the justification that it is for some reason “necessary” to ensure our safety.
The most recent and worrisome infringement is systematic background checks by airlines: Each person purchasing a flight ticket is now being assigned a specific threat level based on investigations into their financial records. While airlines justify it as a more accurate method of validating a person’s identity, it also takes a lot away from our basic civil rights and is a gross invasion of privacy.
These new airline background checks infringe upon every American’s rights but there have also been many steps taken to make sure that non-Americans in this country are being more than just watched over. The new SEVIS program has complete information on every international student studying in our homeland and has the right to disclose this information to anyone it feels necessary. It also requires that some students check in every 30 days.
While our nation’s security is very important, civil liberties and privacy rights should not be curtailed in this pursuit. The freedom that our country extends to its citizens and those visiting is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. It seems silly to take away the basic freedoms offered in this country to protect the freedom that is a way of life for us all.
