Striking a Better Balance Between Essay

For example, ordinarily, a citizen may not be stopped and questioned by police merely because of the fact that he is Caucasian, bald, and in the immediate vicinity of a predominantly African-American church primarily because of 14th and 4th Amendment protections. However, in light of previous incidents of white supremacist-inspired arson against black churches establishing a credible threat, the same individual may be justifiably detained temporarily for police investigation. The current situation in airport screening justifies law enforcement profiling for the purpose of identifying subjects for secondary screening in the same way, and without violating constitutional rights any more than in other tactical situations where credible circumstances justify specific investigatory interest in a particular subject.

Likewise, it would be possible to improve counterterrorism efforts, particularly in the area of intelligence collection, if the U.S. government established a civilian intelligence agency to perform many of the functions now performed by law enforcement investigators.That is simply because civilian entities without government powers of arrest or prosecution are significantly less constrained with respect to the reach of 4th and 5th amendment protections than are any government law enforcement authorities. By applying more reasonable standards of what type of security screening constitutes constitutionally impermissible profiling and by incorporating civilian entities in surveillance and monitoring of electronic and other communications, the U.S. could greatly enhance its contemporary counterterrorism efforts without violating the way of life and privileges that those efforts are intended to protect......