It is illegal in the USA for the government to conduct unreasonable searches and seizures of American citizens. The only legal way this may be done is through a warrant signed by the applicant stating the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized and then authorized by a judge.

When the New York Times , after keeping it a secret for a year at the request of the Bush Administration, revealed that President George W. Bush had authorized illegal surveillance of American citizens, the president chastised the media for spilling the beans. “A shameful act,” he said. Then, he openly admitted he had illegally conducted wiretaps of American citizens…in the name of national security.

On Christmas Eve, the New York Times reported the government action was even more invasive and extensive than first discovered. The entire US telecommunications system, including email, domestic and international, has been monitored by the National Security Agency.

In the name of the War on Terror, the FBI has coerced private and governmental agencies to supply personal employee and customer information, 30,000 requests a year. The FBI has also secretly collected thousands of files on non–violent activists and anti–war groups including the ACLU, PETA, Quakers, and the Catholic Worker Movement.

Many people have rallied behind the president, saying the loss of a little freedom is necessary to fight the terrorists. This statement is anti–American! Nothing justifies violating the Constitution and the basic tenets of American liberty and justice.

I have suffered from government spying. During the height of the Vietnam War, I was a professor at Ohio University. I marched in anti–war parades and spoke at anti–war demonstrations, all the while conducting my classes free from any radical rhetoric.

When the 1969 winter semester began, an agent of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) notified me he had been assigned to my class and he would be monitoring my activities. For six months, with the approval of university authorities, he did just that.

The next fall I was notified by the dean that my contract would not be renewed for the next year. I fought it in the faculty senate and lost, even after being elected Professor of the Year by the students.

Injured but not killed, I returned to Columbia and took a job with Governor John West. As director of research in the Criminal Justice Division, I had much contact with SLED, Highway Patrol, police departments, sheriffs, and corrections.

One day, after a meeting with heads of agencies, Chief Pete Strom of SLED pulled me aside, “Warner, I just want you to know you are on President Nixon’s Hit List. Don’t worry, we don’t take it seriously.” A SLED agent later showed me the list on which were scores of names I recognized, most of whom I considered loyal citizens.

I don’t know if I lost my job at Ohio University because of government spying, but I do know my freedom of expression was being compromised and my rights as an American citizen were being violated. If it happened to me, it could happen to you. It only takes one government agent to place your name on a list. No reason is needed.

In our attempt to stop another terrorist attack, our president and many in Congress have violated the Constitution, broken the law, and spied on American citizens. A government that spies on its own people must in turn be watched even more carefully by its citizens. A government that does not trust the people to know about its spying cannot itself be trusted. The government is becoming more of an enemy to your liberty than the terrorist organizations.