The War against Terror and Civil Rights

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It's been less than a week since Britain's MI-5 intelligence service said 1600 people are under surveillance for 30 terrorist plots linked to al Qaeda in Pakistan. Today, Queen Elizabeth presented Tony Blair's last program to Parliament, indicating that the Prime Minister will ask for new legislation to address the terrorist threat.  Meantime, President Bush still wants Congress to approve his program of wiretaps without court warrants. Democrats say wait until next year. While everybody agrees it's essential to monitor communications between terrorist suspects, how much oversight is required to prevent abuse?  We look at surveillance in Britain, assess the severity of the threat in this country, and consider whether intelligence agents are hampered by too many rules.

Credits

Guests:

Host:

Warren Olney