American Civil Liberties Union

National Security:
Throughout U.S. history "national security" has often been used as a pretext for massive violations of individual rights. The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 mobilized our country in the fight against terrorism. However, this also launched a serious civil liberties crises. The ACLU continues to challenge policies like the USA Patriot Act, and creates campaigns like Safe and Free.


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National Security : Legislative Documents

ACLU Letter to the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Urging An Investigation Into The FBI's Use Of The Attorney General Guidelines (09/22/2008)

ACLU Coalition Letter to Senate and House Judiciary Committee Leadership (09/16/2008)
We, the undersigned organizations who care deeply about both individual rights and effective intelligence-gathering, are gravely concerned about reported changes to federal guidelines that would lower the bar for the FBI’s law enforcement and intelligence investigations. We ask that you thoroughly question FBI Director Mueller this week about the extent of these changes and convene a hearing of civil liberties experts to discuss the implications of the guidelines once they become public and before they go into effect. It appears that fundamental changes will be made in the FBI and Department of Justice rules that govern criminal investigations and domestic intelligence gathering, and the implications of those changes require your dedicated oversight. We also ask that you prevent any funding from being used to implement these changes until the next Attorney General has a chance to review them.

Coalition Letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey Regarding New FBI Guidelines Governing Investigations (09/11/2008)

Testimony of ACLU Legal Director, Steven R. Shapiro, Before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Regarding The State Secrets Protection Act of 2008 (07/31/2008)

Coalition Letter to the Senate Strongly Urging a "No" Vote on the FISA Amendments Act, H.R. 6304 (07/07/2008)

ACLU Letter to the House Of Representatives Strongly Urging Opposition to H.R. 6304 , The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (06/19/2008)

ACLU Analysis of Telecom Immunity Provision in Senator Bond's Proposal of May 21, 2008 (06/12/2008)
Despite claims that Senator Bond’s proposal will allow court review of the pending lawsuits against telecoms that illegally released consumer communications and records, the draft very clearly prevents the courts from determining whether those activities actually complied with the law. Instead, it directs the secret FISA court to dismiss all cases on a showing merely that the telecoms received a piece of paper from the government – regardless of what it said. Here’s what the Bond proposal really does:

Testimony of Caroline Fredrickson on Overclassification Before the House Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment (06/11/2008)

Sign On Letter to House Homeland Security, Intelligence and Judiciary Committees Opposing Funding for Domestic Spy Satellites (06/04/2008)

ACLU One Pager on the State Secrets Protection Act of 2007, H.R. 5607 (06/03/2008)

ACLU Letter to House Appropriations Committee, Intelligence Committee and Leadership Urging Against Funding for Spy Satellites (05/22/2008)

FISA: Fear-mongering and What We've Learned Since January (05/14/2008)

Coalition Sign On Letter to House Leadership Urging Investigations into US Agencies' Role in Torture (05/12/2008)

Coalition Sign On Letter to Senate Leadership Urging Investigations into US Agencies' Role in Torture (05/12/2008)

Coalition Memo to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Regarding "Homegrown Terrorism" (05/07/2008)

Statement of Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, Submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee for a Hearing Entitled, “National Security Letters: The Need for Greater Accountability and Oversight” (04/23/2008)

ACLU Section by Section of S. 2088, The National Security Letter Reform Act of 2007 (04/22/2008)

ACLU Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Responding to Attorney General Mukasey's Stance on S. 2433, "State Secrets Protection Act" (04/03/2008)

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