No city suffered like New York in the terror attacks of 9/11, so perhaps it’s no surprise that in the 10 years since that day, New York’s police department developed an intelligence unit like no other in the country.
However, the lengths to which this unit has gone in the name of security are disturbing.
The Associated Press recently published a story revealing how the New York Police Department has fashioned an effort that uncomfortably pushes the boundary between a domestic police operation and practices more typically used in international spying efforts.
The NYPD has gone too far on several fronts, and in doing so has exposed the historic tension between privacy and national security.
The agency’s close relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency, which is prohibited from domestic policing, offers a cautionary tale as the nation approaches this milestone anniversary of the attacks that changed American life in so many ways.
Following those attacks, the NYPD developed new tactics and relationships with the CIA. Responding to threats gathered in the course of police work is one thing, but the NYPD went beyond that. The agency sent “rakers” to Muslim neighborhoods, agents who would scout bookstores or Internet cafes, for instance, to target people viewing radical websites or reading similar literature.
Sure, people who look at that sort of thing could be interested in joining a terrorist plot. Or they could be curious. Regardless, they were caught up in the NYPD dragnet.
It reminds us of the Denver spy files debacle in which the city’s intelligence unit compiled dossiers on thousands of people engaged in peaceful protest activities.
The practice earned the city a lawsuit, and ushered in a sea change in police policy and procedure.
In some ways, the NYPD’s activities are more invasive. The department sent undercover officers into mosques, looking and listening for anything suspicious. They monitored weekly sermons and reported on what they heard.
The NYPD’s close collaboration with the CIA has called into question whether it enabled the CIA to violate a prohibition against domestic operations.
It’s unclear at this point whether anything illegal has occurred, but at the very least the revelations would seem to jeopardize relations with the city’s Muslim community, which authorities have looked to for help in identifying potential plots.
It’s understandable that New York authorities, shaken to their core by the attacks, would take steps to prevent another tragedy, but there comes a point when the sacrifice of civil liberties is too great a price to pay for security.
