Is the government listening? The expansion of domestic spying after 9/11 raises some thorny constitutional issues.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: Cover Story

BACKGROUND

The debate over domestic surveillance is not new. During the Vietnam War, the FBI and even the CIA--which is not supposed to operate against American citizens--spied on antiwar groups. And FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover personally directed wiretap surveillance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

BEFORE READING

* Assign a student to read aloud the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Review what the Amendment prohibits. Ask students to suggest reasons why they think these protections were added to the Constitution.

CRITICAL THINKING/CLASS VOTE

* Ask for a show of hands on this question: Would you mind if the National Security Agency included your family's phone conversations in a temporary national electronic surveillance operation in the search for terrorists?

* Use the vote as a prompt for further discussion of the subject.

* [Students should understand that the issue is not whether government should wiretap potential terrorists, but whether a President can order electronic surveillance of American citizens without justifying such surveillance to a court.]

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

* Is it possible for the government to provide security from the terrorist threat while simultaneously protecting the privacy protections found in the Fourth Amendment?

* Do you think those who oppose increased domestic surveillance would end their objections if there were another terrorist attack on the U.S.?

WRITING PROMPT

* Divide the class into two groups. Group A writes a 50-word defense of the President's authorization of domestic surveillance without a warrant.

* Group B writes a 50-word statement explaining why Fourth Amendment protections are paramount.

FAST FACT

* The Office of U.S. Courts says the cost of a government-ordered electronic tap averaged $63,011 in 2004.

WEB WATCH

www.nsa.gov/home_html. cfm This National. Security Agency Web site provides declassified background information on the super-secret intelligence agency.

Every hour, the National Security Agency silently monitors millions of telephone calls and e-mails. The agency is so secretive that for decades the government denied its existence and observers joked that NSA stood for "No Such Agency."

In the last few months, the NSA has taken center stage in a political firestorm. In December, The New York Times reported that in the months after Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on Americans suspected of ties to Al Qaeda without first obtaining warrants.

As a result, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people within the U.S. had their international phone calls or e-mails monitored.

Bush's actions raise several critical constitutional issues. How far does presidential authority extend, particularly when it comes to national security? Does the President have expanded powers during wartime? What is the extent of constitutional protections against "unreasonable searches and seizures" in the Fourth Amendment? And the biggest question: How does the government balance its responsibility to defend the nation from terrorist attacks and other threats to its security while protecting the...