The U.S. war on terrorism has created the unbalance and caused the reduction of the human civil rights. The paper will present the opinion about the security measures and under which circumstances can be seen as justifiable.
One of the most known techniques used in the recent past from the government agencies in the terrorism and counterterrorism techniques is wiretapping. The US Patriot Act of 2001 has drastically decreased the civil human rights as has the records of the National Security Agency revealed. The privacy and civil liberties with surveillance and gathering the mass data without the need to get the warrant have drastically intruded into the privacy of the citizens. The techniques and measures are not only immoral; they are also not justifiable and in many cases unnecessary (Davis, McGaritty, Williams, 2014).
The Private and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (2014) concluded that the gathering NSA metadata and information did not in a single instance made a change in the counterterrorism outcome. With the surveillance techniques the US is changing into the police country with increased jurisdiction to arrest and prosecute suspects of terrorism. The war on terror restricts the first, fourth and fifth amendment. Racial profiling is affecting the immigrants after the 9/11 and it is causing the discrimination among citizens. Unfair and unethical treatment of different ethnicities is not justifiable by any means.
The law must prevail and the democratic values on which the country is built on. The though security measures could be tolerable only in the existence of real threat with the certain degree of certainty and not on the presumptions and spying over every individual. The precautions are justifiable in various places, such as airports and the same measures could also be implemented in various other events, happenings and public buildings. The security measures are justifiable in the crisis events to control the situation. Justification for the authorities to institute tougher security measures to safeguard the well-being of the American citizenry if doing so might drastically curtail our civil rights is almost never justifiable. The techniques are unethical, immoral and usually do not bring the desired goals. More balance should be created in protecting the civil rights and war on terror techniques and tactics.
References
Davis, Fergal, McGarrity, Nicola, Williams, George. (2014). Surveillance, Counter-Terrorism and Comparative Constitutionalism. New York: Routledge.
Private and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. (2014). Report on the Telephone Records Program. Retrieved https://www.nsa.gov/civil_liberties/_files/pclob_report_on_telephone_records_progra m.pdf
