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Obama Keeps Bush's Search Policy For Travelers
The Obama administration will largely preserve Bush-era procedures allowing the government to search -- without suspicion of wrongdoing -- the contents of a traveler's laptop computer, cellphone or other electronic device, although officials said new policies would expand oversight of such inspections.
Passengers at a security checkpoint at Logan International Airport in Boston, August 10, 2006. "Under the policy begun by Bush and now continued by Obama, the government can open your laptop and read your medical records, financial records, e-mails, work product and personal correspondence -- all without any suspicion of illegal activity," said Elizabeth Goitein, who leads the liberty and national security project at the nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice. REUTERS/Brian Snyder The policy, disclosed Thursday in a pair of Department of Homeland Security directives, describes more fully than did the Bush administration the procedures by which travelers' laptops, iPods, cameras and other digital devices can be searched and seized when they cross a U.S. border. And it sets time limits for completing searches.
But representatives of civil liberties and travelers groups say they see little substantive difference between the Bush-era policy, which prompted controversy, and this one.
"It's a disappointing ratification of the suspicionless search policy put in place by the Bush administration," said Catherine Crump, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union. "It provides a lot of procedural safeguards, but it doesn't deal with the fundamental problem, which is that under the policy, government officials are free to search people's laptops and cellphones for any reason whatsoever."
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday framed the new policy as an enhancement of oversight. "Keeping Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully screen materials entering the United States," she said in a statement. "The new directives announced today strike the balance between respecting the civil liberties and privacy of all travelers while ensuring DHS can take the lawful actions necessary to secure our borders."
For instance, searches conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers should now generally take no more than 5 days, and no more than 30 days for searches by Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents. The directives also require for the first time that automated tools be developed to ensure the reliable tracking of statistics relating to searches, and that audits be conducted periodically to ensure the guidelines are being followed, officials said.
Such measures drew praise from House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who called the new policy "a major step forward," and from Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), who introduced legislation this year to strengthen protections for travelers whose devices are searched.
But the civil liberties community was disappointed.
"Under the policy begun by Bush and now continued by Obama, the government can open your laptop and read your medical records, financial records, e-mails, work product and personal correspondence -- all without any suspicion of illegal activity," said Elizabeth Goitein, who leads the liberty and national security project at the nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice.
Goitein, formerly a counsel to Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), said the Bush policy itself "broke sharply" with previous Customs directives, which required reasonable suspicion before agents could read the contents of documents. Feingold last year introduced legislation to restore the requirement.
Jack Riepe, spokesman for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, said the guidelines "still have many of the inherent weaknesses" of the Bush-era policy.
Between October 2008 and Aug. 11, more than 221 million travelers passed through CBP checkpoints. About 1,000 laptop searches were performed, only 46 in-depth, the DHS said.
31 Comments so far
Show AllWow, what a difference an election makes eh?
I am so relieved that the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (DHS) has been abolished; now we can go back to the centuries old traditions of innocent until proven guilty, 4th Amendment protections (rooted in English law since the 17th century), and habeas corpus. See: Magna Charta from the year 1215.
Don't worry socialist, Democrats plan to re-elect the leader to the fuhrerbunker in 2012 and only then to "pressure him" towards granting basic civil liberties.( who really needs protection from arbitrary search and seizure anyway? Got something to hide, socialist? hmmmmm?)
As an aside, you can understand why many will choose to visit, whether for business or pleasure, countries that, unlike the US, are civilized in the way they treat travellers.
Yeah Jlocke, if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear, that sounds familiar. I think I remember that from my childhood watching re-runs of "Hogan's Heroes"
Funny you mention people not choosing to visit: A former supervisor of mine from Belgium was detained (about 6 months ago) for a couple of hours at SFO for absolutely no reason. Not that it should matter, but she is a petite blonde woman who weighs about 100 lbs and is a university professor. She was coming to SF for a conference.
She is a very patient and kind person, however she told me she would not return to the USA because of her treatment by DHS at the airport.
Ah, a professor. Highly suspect. That is just insane. Would someone please come and rescue us from ourselves?!!!
Any educated person should be detained as a potential subversive. As for me (sigh), being a good citizen, I'm ready to bender over when the TSA person gives the command. These are just small inconveniences that all good Americans should accept as a small price for keeping our country free.
It would take much less time and ink to enumerate the Bush policies Obomber has NOT kept.
Post-acquittal detention is a departure. See he's not just a second Bush.
Obama is BUSH. When is everyone finally going recognize that come to terms with having been swindled last November . The advantage with BUSH however was that he was a least funny with his hilarious posturing and strutting. Obama is just boring with his preachy empty speeches. My preference is an honest clown, BUSH, and not a dishonest faker, Obama.
It is not Obama nor Bush. It is us. We are the ones who allow this to happen. Has anyone ever refused to take off their shoes at the airport? Remove a belt? Surrender a bottle of water they just paid $4.75 for a few feet away? Open their bag? Remove their change? Take out their laptop? Raise their arms?
Security gates at US airports are preparing us for a totalitarian state. We are ordered, as someone stands there and shouts at us repeatedly and we follow the instructions. Even those among us who do not understand the language because it is not our own, understand the directive and if we don't our belongings are pulled from us and set upon a belt that will remove any veil that exists between us and them.
Has anyone ever just said "no"?
Yes, some people have questioned it or opposed it. They've all been arrested!
But you know if more people protested, refused to fly, held up lines at security checkpoints, the airlines would appeal to the government to relax security measures. Why is it that it is only in the United States or flights flying to the US that these measures are enforced? What we need it a little organized non-violent resistance. Otherwise, this facist state will continue to violate our privacy in the name of national security.
I've said "no". I no longer fly. The next flight I take will be one way outta this shit-pit.
To "the flagger"- you must really be lame to find anything offensive in my comment above.
I didn't flag you but if you can't see why your comment was flagged, you need to develop more awareness of what most people find offensive. This website is designed for serious, thoughtful exchange of thoughts. When comments decline in quality, the entire website is in jeopardy.
I do not want it to decline. Maintaining quality is the key and cuss words are never part of thoughtful exchange.
LOL Wow- now THAT is a crock. I have even read serious cursing in the very articles themselves on Common Dreams. Anyone who would give "cuss words" such power over them is a moron and will never accomplish, nor assist in accomplishing, ANY of the objectives that are discussed here.
@ sLiMsHaDy
I too have said "no". I no longer fly.
In Canada we too are treated as potential criminals on domestic flights and must take off our shoes and belt-buckles and surrender our fingernail scissors. Like you I gave up flying except where there was no choice. When possible (only one exception) I took the Greyhound bus instead when traveling halfway across the continent because I did not like being treated like a criminal and go through the security checks when travelling. I preferred the bus because although Greyhound treats you somewhat like cattle that was much better than being treated like a criminal. Since the security checks began I have logged many thousands of miles in the buses. But now I have a dilemma. Greyhound has added security checks at a few western Canadian cities. I do not know if they do it in the US too or not, but I am disgusted that I no longer need to worry about choosing between the cattle treatment and the criminal treatment because now Greyhound gives me both.
As I went through this unneeded security I wondered "How many citizens would be willing to wear a freedom armband as they went through airport security. Say a yellow armband with the words "habeas corpus" worn to protest the loss of individual freedom against arbitrary state action." It would be a non-violent protest. No resistance, just the visible objection. Just the identification of one's mindset, both for the authorities and for others of similar mindset so that us objectors not feel so alone. I suspect that we are by far the majority. One lone traveler in a line objecting and making a fuss is not a problem for the system because no one will interfere, but one hundred travelers visibly of similar mindset in the line, now that could be another matter.
Thanks, pangloss, for your timely and perceptive comments.
Those are the most accurate five lines of prose I read today.
Also liked tanguero's reply at 4:38, "It is not Obama nor Bush.
It is us..."
As for me, I seldom use America's airlines; I fly about once every 3 years or so.
We are pitiful for continuing to accept this dreadful search policy.
Amazing the difference between entering the US and any other country, and I'm an American citizen! I have felt more welcome in every other country I have visited (except Singapore) than upon returning "home". Last week I flew into the Netherlands and passed through customs and immmigration without even having to fill out a form! Can you imagine?
Last month when I was leaving Korea I noticed travelers were not removing their shoes. The official directing the flow of traffic asked me where I was going, I told her San Francisco, she told me I had to take off my shoes. Why? I was going to America.
The increased security measures post-9/11 were put there to make us afraid. We had to be searched so that we would feel that there was an enemy out there among us. Someone who would threaten the freedom we so valued. Yet, in our desire to preserve our freedom, we allowed it to be taken away. Slick eh?
Do you think anyone would let Obama take that power away from them? You can blame him as much as you want, but we all know he is mostly powerless to do much to change anything in Washington or elsewhere in this country as long as the populace is a bunch of sleeping sheep who hide behind flags, crosses and guns rather than know the truth. If the people of the United States do not care, do you expect anyone who is actually running the show to give a hoot?
No matter who is the resident of the White House there is a much more powerful, secretive branch of our government who really decides what we will and will not do, know or think.
Tanquero, I hear you man! I noticed that 4 years agao when I visited Cuba, after literally being kicked out 30 years ago. Upon my arrival in Cuba, I was "welcomed back" and wished a nice stay, imagine that! Upon leaving, I was thanked for my stay and asked to "come back soon." Upon returned to the US, I greeted by a dumbass inmigration bureaucrat who took it upon himself to attack Fidel, the government, etc., when I replied in a manner that wasn't consistent with the script, he pulled me aside and had me sit in a room, alone, while he called on the reserves. When they arrived, they searched me with dogs as well as physically and went thru my luggage twice. I had all of the required paperwork at the time and, after all that, they confessed that they didn't know what to do because I was the first person to go thru with the appropriate documentation. Duh!
You can just about imagine how violated, infuriated, agrieved and disillusioned I felt. I escaped from the one country to save my life but they welcome me back warmly after 30 years, while the country I escaped to and welcomed me with open arms 30 years ago now treats me like a common criminal upon return from the first! The world of politics is a twisted one instead!
What can we say? Don't leave home. If you do then don't return.
"Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday framed the new policy as an enhancement of oversight."
Hmmm...enhancement of oversight, eh? Isn't that the same word they're using for torture "enhanced interrogation techniques"?
Yeeeeh, Obamy! The same as Bushy and change we can believe in!
Why are these corporate-lobbyist-wealthy elites in Washington worth protecting anyway? I didn't vote for this fascist regime. And watch for more security wall building along our borders...Amerika has really lost its way.
Obama Keeps Bush's Search Policy For Travelers
______________________________________
I blame Obama's media people.
The slogan "Change You Can Believe In™" originally was supposed to be "Let's Just Do Everything the Last Guy Did for a Change!™"
It's hardly fair to find fault with Obama for someone else's over-tweaking.
· Yr Obd't Servant
This is like a Punch and Judy show. The same gangsters control both puppets
I cant believe Obama is maintaining Bush's policies.
Shocking, simply shocking.
Why doesn't Common Dreams become a force of resistance
instead of printing articles that confirm the obvious?
Can anyone answer this question? How about the Common Dreams
editors?
Barack Bush/George Obama/Sarah Biden/Joe Palin, what difference does it make? It's all the same one-party rule, all the same Big Lie of democratic process, all devoted to the same purpose: the preservation and expansion of capitalism -- absolute power and infinite profit for the ruling class, total subjugation and bottomless poverty for the rest of us.
Can you say "enslavement"?
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano:"Keeping Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully screen materials entering the United States,"
Perhaps Janet has not yet heard of the Internet, being stuck in bunker mode? Anything can be sent encrypted anywhere, bypassing all those walls and moats near and dear to the Homelanders.
More likely it is a means to facilitate domestic and international espionage for the US administration.
I'd be tempted to fill a business laptop with disinformation and see where it surfaces.
Dear Obama,
Should I continue to believe in change?
Why is it that people born poor and then get rich hate poor people---Nixon, Reagan, AAArnold, ...
People born rich seem to like the poor---FDR, Kennedys
George C. Brown - Anything related or relating to the Bushes (one and all) needs to be thrown out PDQ!
this is the reason that I, a US Born citizen is not coming back to the USA. I am also thinking about giving up my US Citizenship...
Yep.They tell us not to leave our laptops in the hotel rooms.When visiting China for fear of it being bugged,then when you get here they forceably take it from you.The governments computers are all already being watched from the inside out from China.So why not complained ours are not safe in their hands.Since when do they have the right to peer into secret corp meetings inducted on your laptop?On a broader scale I am sure they are being setup for a fall some where.After all it's an all out war out there.Especially since they appear to be stupider than they let on or want you to believe.Right?Right.