The Enemy Within: Intelligence Gathering, Law Enforcement and Civil Liberties in the Wake of September 11

By Stephen J. Schulhofer, Century Foundation Press, 9/15/2002

The intelligence-gathering and law-enforcement powers of the federal government have grown exponentially since September 11. To a degree not yet widely appreciated, the federal executive branch, in the name of fighting a war on terrorism, has acquired comprehensive new powers to conduct secret searches, to spy electronically, to obtain access to previously confidential financial and educational records, to detain without charge, to preclude public hearings, and to restrict access to counsel for both foreigners and citizens, in both military and civilian systems.

The Enemy Within reviews the principal changes, many of which are not widely known. It also assesses the need for the new federal powers, their combined effects, and the dangers they may pose.

The Enemy Within Official Source

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Introdution: 

An exponential increase in the resources and legal weapons devoted to counterterrorism efforts is a defining feature of our world since September 11. Budget dollars and the numbers of federal agents assigned to gathering intelligence have increased dramatically, and many new law enforcement initiatives have been put in place. For FBI surveillance and information storage operations alone, the latest federal budget provides an increase of nearly $200 million a year and more than two hundred new federal employees.1 Congress has granted the executive branch sweeping new powers, most notably in the PATRIOT Act,2 passed with little congressional debate, and virtually no dissent, on October 26, 2001, just six weeks after the attacks. And the executive branch has used rulemaking authority to assume many new powers on its own initiative, without congressional consideration or approval.

Few of us doubt that the threat of terrorism is real and that powerful law enforcement tools will be needed to contain it. At the same time, there can be no illusions about the impact of these new powers on liberty and privacy rights that most of us took for granted on September 10. The law enforcement measures recently put in place and additional initiatives still being developed unquestionably will curtail the liberty and privacy of both American citizens and foreign nationals within our borders.

About the Author:

Stephen J. Schulhofer is the Robert B. McKay Professor of Law at New York University Law School. From 1986 until 2000, he was director of the Center for Studies in Criminal Justice at the University of Chicago, where he was the Julius Kreeger Professor of Law, and he served for many years as a consultant to the United States Sentencing Commission. He has written extensively on police practices, criminal law, and criminal procedure.

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