Airline Security Must Protect
Rights As Well As Safety
Racial Profiling And Body Scanners Target Civil Liberties But Not
Necessarily Terrorists
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – The Obama administration announced Sunday it will subject
the citizens of 14 nations who are flying to the United States to
intensified screening at airports, including being subjected to
full-body pat downs or body scanners. According to the American
Civil Liberties Union, the government should adhere to longstanding
standards of individualized suspicion and enact security measures
that are the least threatening to civil liberties and are proven to
be effective. Racial profiling and untargeted body scanning do not
meet those criteria.
"We should be focusing on evidence-based, targeted and narrowly
tailored investigations based on individualized suspicion, which
would be both more consistent with our values and more effective
than diverting resources to a system of mass suspicion," said
Michael German, national security policy counsel with the ACLU
Washington Legislative Office and a former FBI agent. "Overbroad
policies such as racial profiling and invasive body scanning for all
travelers not only violate our rights and values, they also waste
valuable resources and divert attention from real threats."
According to the ACLU, the government's plan to subject citizens of
certain countries to enhanced screenings is bad policy, because
there is no way to predict the national origin of a terrorist and
many terrorists have come from countries not on the list. For
instance, the "shoe bomber" Richard Reid is a British citizen, as
were four of the London subway bombers, and in 2005 a Belgian woman
launched a suicide attack in Iraq.
"Singling out travelers from a few specified countries for enhanced
screening is essentially a pretext for racial profiling, which is
ineffective, unconstitutional and violates American values.
Empirical studies of terrorists show there is no terrorist profile,
and using a profile that doesn't reflect this reality will only
divert resources by having government agents target innocent
people," said German. "Profiling can also be counterproductive by
undermining community support for government counterterrorism
efforts and creating an injustice that terrorists can exploit to
justify further acts of terrorism."
In addition to racial profiling, some have called for the
across-the-board implementation of full body scanners, which present
serious threats to personal privacy and are of unclear
effectiveness. According to a UK Independent report on Sunday,
British officials have already tested the scanners and were not
persuaded that they would be effective for stopping terrorist
threats to planes. And according to security experts, the explosive
device used in the attempted attack on a Detroit-bound plane on
Christmas Day would not have been detected by the body scanners.
"We shouldn't complacently surrender our rights for a false sense of
security, and we should be very leery of being sold a device
presented as a cure-all, especially when the evidence shows just the
opposite," added German. "If scanners and other intrusive procedures
are used, it should be with their limitations in mind and only when
there is reason to believe that an individual poses an increased
risk to flight safety, not as blanket measures applied to millions
of innocent travelers."
Published on American Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org)
Source URL:
http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/airline-security-must-protect-rights-well-safety
CAIR-CT 5th
Anniversary Banquet
American Muslims:
Partner in Peace & Justice

Come join us for
our Fifth Annual Banquet! We are raising funds to enable us to
continue protecting the civil rights of Muslims, building stronger
relationships with local governments, enhancing understanding of
Islam through interfaith forums, and maintaining a steady presence
in the media to promote a positive image of Islam. (Click
HERE to register and more details)
Sharing Ramadan 2009 Event:
Sep 13, 2009.
CAIR-CT
receives 'the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition'
from congressman Joe Courtney.
.jpg)
The Council On American Islamic
Relations Connecticut Chapter and Islamic Center of New London held
its 2009 Sharing Ramadan event at Bennie Dover Jackson Middle
School, New London, CT on Sep 13,2009. As more than one billion Muslims
worldwide celebrate Ramadan by fasting and appreciating the blessing
given to us, it is important for the American Muslim community to
reach out to our neighbors as an example Islamic ideals.
Ramadan is the month, on the
Islamic Lunar calendar, during which Muslims abstain from food,
drink, and sensual pleasures from break of dawn to sunset. The fast
is performed to learn discipline, self restraint, generosity, while
obeying God’s commandments. Fasting along with the
declaration of faith, daily prayers, charity, and pilgrimage to
Mecca is one of the “five pillars” of Islam. The end of Ramadan will
be marked by communal prayers on the day called “Eid-ul Fitr” or
Feast of the Fast Breaking
The event
started with an Interfaith Program entitled, 'Fasting Traditions of
the People of the Book' wherein a member of Jewish, Christian, and
Muslim religions discussed their fasting practices and traditions.
The program was followed by the Council on American Islamic
Relations event called 'Qur'an for Enlightment Program' handing out
over 20 Noble and Glorious Qur'an to faith leaders and politicians
and school officials who attended the event.
(More pictures from the event
can be found on the ICNL website at
www.ICNL.com)
Sharing Ramadan
Poster