Ten years after 9/11 domestic security spending has more than quadrupled, full body scanners have arrived at airports and phones can be tapped without warrants. And even given these new security measures, Gallup indicates 38 percent of Americans believe a terror attack is a likely possibility in the coming weeks.
“The fact is that we don’t know if we are more secure,” said Seyom Brown, SMU professor of political science and the author of “The Illusion of Control: Force and Foreign Policy in the 21st warrant.”
Brown said the shift indicated that the information given to the public was different from the reality public officials face once in office.
“It’s a completely different reality. Now, I think he is completely, emotionally dedicated to civil liberties and his whole career indicates that, but once he got into office, things were different,” Brown said, mentioning Obama’s history as a constitutional law professor and his advocacy for civil rights.
In an interview with NBC news that aired Saturday, Obama said that 10 years after 9/11 we have emerged in a way that is “consistent with our changed.”
And while those things may not have changed, it is clear that Americans do not have the same number of civil liberties they once did.
Polls show mixed reviews on whether or not the country has gone too far.
According to a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 86 percent said individual freedoms had been impacted by 9/11 and only 53 percent of people said that increased spending on national security had been worth the cost.
Additionally, a slim majority — 54 percent — said if they had to choose between preserving their rights and freedoms and protecting people from terrorists, they would preserve their rights and freedoms.
Brown said that while he believes Obama truly wants to protect civil liberties, “a great deal more leveling” with the public is necessary.
“Obama has not given an adequate explanation of some of the retreats [on civil liberties] he has made,” Brown said.
“There is a burden on any public official that will violate our traditional civil liberties to explain to the American public why this is speak.”
While Brown said he was personally “ambivalent” about the trade off between civil liberties and security as it stands, he mentioned his personal concern about trading the right to due process in exchange for security.
“Now we are really in a bind, because we really do have some of the most dangerous people sitting in Guantanamo, but because we have already violated their constitutional rights there is no way we can bring them to trial,” he said. “I’m just not sure that giving up due process rights is ever really