Surveillance News Update: A Conference And a Lawsuit

Cato Surveillance Week 2024 kicks off on October 7. Also, late Friday we filed yet another FOIA lawsuit against the FBI over FISA Section 702 violation records.

From "Police State Lite" to an American Gestapo: What a Trump Victory Might Bring

What makes the prospect of a Trump victory even more chilling is the kind of law enforcement and data collection tools that would be at Trump's disposal if he wins - tools he would be eager to use against his political opponents.

When Congress Becomes The Oppressor: From The McCarran Act To The "China Initiative"

Earlier this month, the House passed a bill in the spirit of the McCarran Act that would revive the odious and discredited Trump-era "China Initiative.

At 237, the Constitution Is Showing Its Age And Vulnerability

The current political climate makes amending the Constitution impractical, dangerous, or both. Even so, legal and structural changes to our existing, vulnerable governing institutions are possible. All that's required is the will to make it happen.

The Threat Response Differential: 9/11 versus January 6

Our failure to roll back 9/11-driven executive power grabs and "coup proof" our government against internal authoritarian political threats may come back to haunt us, and soon.

The 118th Congress's Unfinished Business: Civil Liberties Protections

The institutional threats to our constitutional rights left unaddressed by the federal legislature are major, long standing, and perfectly exploitable by a would-be authoritarian like Trump.

COINTELPRO: The Legacy

It was a secret, and unconstitutional, assault on the First Amendment protected activities of the persons and entities involved, a state-sponsored form of "divide and conquer" aimed not at the Soviet Union, but a segment of the far left public in America.

Will Democrats Leave The Republic At Risk Of A Future Right Wing Coup Attempt?

The DNC party platform reflects a pre-Trump era mindset, ignoring the need to eliminate legal and institutional vulnerabilities that leave us at risk of another "MAGA movement" coup attempt. Kamala Harris must act to "coup proof" the institutions of the Republic.

All But Memory Holed: How the 9/11 Commission Failed America

The most recent revelations in the 9/11 families' court action against the Saudi government provide the most powerful public evidence yet that at least some Saudi government officials in D.C. and Los Angeles played a direct role in facilitating the 9/11 attacks.

Supreme Court Follies: Internal Checkpoint Edition

Marshall and Brennan were certain that the majority's ruling in the case would ultimately lead to Fourth Amendment rights violations at scale at these internal checkpoints. History has proven them right.

Book Review: "Before the Badge: How Academy Training Shapes Police Violence," by Samantha J. Simon

A University of Arizona sociologist provides a provocative but selective and ideologically tinged look at how police in four Texas law enforcement agencies are trained and fielded and what it tells us about the viability of police reform efforts.

A New Race, A Fresh Start

In light of the mortal threat Trump poses to the Republic, Democrats must now unite behind the person best positioned to beat him: Vice President Kamala Harris.

2024 election

On Reaping What Is Sown

President Biden now faces the single greatest crisis of his presidency less than four months before what's likely to be the most contentious national election in decades. Given Trump's stated intentions for another term in office, it's hard to imagine how the stakes could be higher.

2024 election

Election 2024: Paradigm Shift

Two events in the space of five days altered the contours of the fall national election and the stakes for the survival of the Republic in 2025 and beyond. To avert catastrophe, anti-Trump forces must shift their focus from the presidency to Congress.

Freedom of Information Act

America's Citizen Government Oversight Tool: The Freedom of Information Act Nears Sixty

Enacted on Independence Day 1966, the venerable open government law is hated by federal bureaucrats who waste no opportunity trying to find new ways to thwart its use. While still a valuable government oversight tool, FOIA needs rejuvenation if it is to remain viable.

political repression

American Big Brother: A Century of Surveillance

Sometimes, it's helpful to look at a phenomenon over time to understand how pervasive it is in reality. That's especially true of surveillance-enabled political repression.

Dogs

A Rare Civil Liberties Win (For Now) and Dogs That Need Your Help

For the first time in the post-9/11 era, the House delivered a clear cut win against the use of indefinite detention by U.S. military forces in the "War on Terror." In other news, dogs suffering via a horrific Pentagon medical experimentation program need your help.

Warner's FISA "Fix": The Oxymoron of "Secret Law" in a Republic

The Senate Intelligence Committee leader just released his "fix" for a new, radically overbroad Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authority signed into law two months ago. The public may not know for years--or ever--if it worked. And a new provision on American's geolocation info should worry

Arab Americans

Raw, Unchecked Executive Power Would Fuel Trump's Anti-migrant Terror Campaign

Under GOP and Democrat administrations, America has a long, dark history of using "enemies lists," due process free detention, and political sabotage against the enemies of those in power. If elected, Trump may add more such hideous episodes to that history. The week of June 10, the House

Al Qaeda

Memorial Day Birthday: No-Such-Agency Turns 65

One day before Memorial Day and with little fanfare, on May 29, 1959, President Eisenhower signed into law the National Security Agency Act. It's been spying on foreigners, and Americans, ever since. Thirty-three days after my 18th birthday, I raised my right hand and took an oath to

Joe Biden

Political Establishment to College Kids: Protest is Fine, Unless It Challenges the Establishment

In the decades-long battle between Palestinians and Israelis, America's political elites long ago picked a side. That choice isn't sitting well with young people, and police using violence against the protesters only discredits the Establishment further in their eyes.

air travel

No Scan, No Fly: The Future of Domestic Air Travel?

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is determined to force passengers guilty of no crime to submit to facial recognition scanning in order to board their flight. Some in Congress are fighting the move.

Congress

Toxic Legacy: Hoover, the Bureau, and the American Surveillance State

Over five decades after his death, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI is among the greatest daily threats to the constitutional rights of Americans. That must change.

Congress

What is Old is New Again: Politically Weaponizing the Tax Code Against Nonprofits

A bipartisan group of House and Senate members seem intent on reviving one of the most odious tactics ever developed to go after civil society nonprofits they don't like