6 - Auxiliary Precautions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 June 2009
Summary
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
James Madison, Federalist No. 51The big question now is, What have we gained in terms of national security in return for the enormous price we have paid for counterterrorist law? There is no clear answer to this question.
It is possible that some of the provisions have been extremely helpful in curbing the threat. On June 15, 2004, MI5 placed under surveillance Dhiren Barot, also known as Abu Esa al Britani. The Security Services subsequently lost track of him, but when a laptop captured in Pakistan revealed his involvement in a terrorist plot, authorities decided to capture him as soon as he resurfaced – as he did, in August. A counterterrorist official later admitted, “It is no exaggeration to say that, at the time of the arrest, there was little or no admissible evidence against Barot.” But special powers of detention bought the state time to find enough material to bring charges; and over the next two years, careful examination of nearly 300 computers, 1,800 disks, CDs and hard drives, and other materials helped build a watertight case.
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- Information
- The Cost of CounterterrorismPower, Politics, and Liberty, pp. 333 - 360Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008