National Security, Civil Liberties and the War on Terror

Book excerpt: This collection of thirty-one essays on national security, counter terrorism and civil liberties, examines competing views on the lengths to which personal freedoms and constitutional guarantees may be curtailed in the name of security. Divided into sections covering the history of the current anti-terrorism climate, interrogation practices, immigration and racial profiling, secrecy and surveillance and detention and the constitution, essays address such topics as justifying wartime limits on civil rights and liberties, torture and positive law, the use of "common-sense" profiling and comparative perspectives on the State Secrets Privilege. Most entries have been drawn from previously published works and the volume includes the relevant transcripts of several important court cases and government policy statements and documents. Contributors are influential professors of law from a variety of institutions. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).