The Wire

Laws that impede civil liberties and infringe human rights were always supposed to be temporary according to the governments that introduced them as the necessary answer to terrorism. In the US, the Bush administrations response was the Patriot Act, which was passed just 45 days after September 11. It gave the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies the power to detain terrorism suspects without charge, intercept telephone and electronic communication and detain witnesses not accused of any crime. Countries around the world, including Australia followed suit, passing laws granting more power to intelligence agencies in the hope they would prevent acts of terror. The argument made by governments was breaches of freedom were needed to deal with this special threat. However, some of these temporary measures are about to be set in stone. The Patriot Act was passed with a sunset clause, which meant the laws must be reviewed to see if they were still necessary. With the act due to expire this year both US houses of parliament have passed amendments to the laws that would see most of them become permanent. Michael Atkin spoke to Professor Marjorie Cohen from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and Executive Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild about the development.