Two Decades Later, Post-9/11 Surveillance Legacy Demands Reform
As the twentieth anniversary of September 11 passes, the expansive and secretive surveillance apparatus built in its wake continues to threaten American privacy and democracy without proven safety benefits.
The twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks prompts a critical look at the massive surveillance infrastructure built in response to the tragedy. The public centerpiece of this expansion is the Patriot Act, but the government also develops a vast, expensive set of secret spying operations that erase the boundaries between domestic and foreign intelligence gathering.
These secret programs sweep up the communications and records of millions of innocent Americans. Congress largely abdicates its oversight duties, while the secret FISA court transforms from approving specific warrants to rubber-stamping entire massive surveillance programs without the authority to provide meaningful checks on executive power.
Despite two decades of this intrusive monitoring, there remains no clear evidence that mass surveillance actually keeps the public safe. The attacks simply give intelligence agencies the justification they need to implement a "collect-it-all" strategy domestically, forcing Americans to sacrifice their privacy for a false promise of security.