The Honorable Tom Ridge
Director
White House Office of Homeland Security
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Director Ridge:
On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its approximately 330,000 members, we write to urge you to ensure the protection of privacy, civil rights and civil liberties at the new Department of Homeland Security, established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-296. As you know, the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security will be a challenging undertaking, bringing together 22 separate federal agencies from throughout the government.
We were pleased that the Homeland Security Act includes a statutory officer for civil rights and civil liberties and a statutory officer for privacy. We strongly urge you to fill these positions with persons with a high degree of experience in civil liberties and privacy and with the greatest degree of political and ideological independence. We also urge you to take steps to ensure that the agency's internal watchdogs are empowered fully to investigate and respond to allegations of wrongdoing by the Department.
Much of the work of the Homeland Security Department will involve sensitive interactions with the public and there is understandable concern about the degree of power that the Department will wield. The new Department will have more armed federal agents with arrest power than any other agency, including the FBI. Effective oversight of federal law enforcement has proved challenging in the past. We urge you to take steps now to enable the Homeland Security Department to earn America's trust.
Sincerely,
Laura W. Murphy
Director
Washington National Office
Timothy Edgar
Legislative Counsel