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DHS – Now Department of Hassling and Shakedowns

The Department of Homeland Security has recently publicly disclosed  long standing policies regarding search and seizure at US borders. According to the newly disclosed policies federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for inspection for an unspecified time without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Officials can also share copies of the electronic devices contents with other agencies and private entities for translation, decryption or any other purpose they deem necessary.

DHS officials defended the policies as reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism. The search and seizure policies include an alarming list of devices which can be taken and analyzed. Included in the list are:

hard drives, flash drives, cell  phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover all papers and other written documentation, including books, pamphlets and written materials commonly referred to as pocket trash or pocket litter.

So apparently the DHS deems it necessary to search and seize your pocket lint. You never know where you might find jihadist literature or plans. Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said that efforts “do not infringe on Americans’ privacy.” Apparently when it comes to international travel Americans’ privacy rights have long be abrogated. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff opined that:

The most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices. Searches have uncovered violent jihadist materials as well as child pornography.

Notice the inclusion of the old red herring child pornography. Whenever a federal agency implements a new policy which takes away yet another of our rights the old child pornography defense is always used. I know child pornography is a serious issue but it has nothing to do with homeland security. Supposedly when a review of the confiscated equipment and its contents has been completed and no probable cause exists to keep it, any copies of the data must be destroyed. The problem here is that there is no governance of the DHS review of the data and whether probable cause exists or not. The DHS has become an agency with little or no oversight and no safeguards against abuse.

With over 400 million travelers entering the country each year, I fail to see the benefits of randomly selecting a traveler, based on no probable cause, and subjecting them to confiscation of their equipment and violation of their right to privacy. That is little more than a crap shoot. These policies are an enormous waste of resources with almost no prospect of any real benefits regarding securing our borders and defending our country against external threats. Common sense dictates that you have better odds of winning the lottery than you do of finding or stopping a terrorist with 1 in 400 million odds.

I know that some sacrifices have to be made in the name of security but if this is the best that the DHS can come up with then our country truly is at risk, both from the threat of terrorism and the risk of our society becoming one in which there are no civil rights and no possible expectation of privacy anymore. This is about as effective as the million name terrorist list that the TSA maintains. When we are stripped of the rights, liberties, and protections that have been afforded us for over 200 years by the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence then the war on terrorism is over and we have lost.

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