ACLU blasts New Jersey terrorcrat's stay-at-home warning

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

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From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>

Previous Politech message:

"'Red alert' means New Jerseyans may not leave their homes"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-04565.html

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Red Alert: ACLU of NJ Calls Counter-Terrorism Chief's Comments
Counter-Productive

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 21, 2003

Contact: Gabe Rottman
202-675-2312

NEWARK - The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today severely
criticized a high-level state official for saying that in the event of a
"red alert" security level, "You literally are staying at home...What we're
saying is, 'Everybody sit down.' If you are left standing, you are probably
a terrorist."
"What that statement describes is essentially martial law," said Deborah
Jacobs, Executive Director of the ACLU of New Jersey.
"If ever necessary," Jacobs added, "such extreme actions could only be
justified in exceptionally limited situations where an investigation could
pose a direct danger to the public in a restricted geographic area."
Since the official, Sid Caspersen, the Director of the New Jersey Office of
Counter-Terrorism, made his statements, Jacobs said that the ACLU has
received dozens of phone calls from members of the public concerned about
the consequences of a red-alert lockdown. Some parents, for example, said
they feared that they would be unable to find their children.
"While the Governor's office seeks to assuage the public's anxiety,
comments like Caspersen's seem only to exacerbate things," Jacobs said.
Another point of concern that Caspersen's comments raised was the claim
that New Jersey has recently secretly arrested and detained suspected
terrorists. Caspersen told listeners of a radio program on which he was
interviewed that the public isn't "going to read about them any time soon."
"In one breath, Caspersen tries to encourage public trust by stating that
'the state's on top of it.' In the next breath, he brags about secret
arrests," Jacobs said. "The proven way to create public trust is to conduct
government business in the open."
Jacobs said that as part of its ongoing litigation challenging government
secrecy, the ACLU would seek to learn more about the "secret arrests" that
Caspersen highlighted.
The ACLU currently has two pending cases concerning government secrecy
since September 11. The first involves the closure of courtrooms for more
than 1,000 immigration hearings, ordered closed on September 21, 2001 by
the Chief U.S. Immigrant Judge. The case is pending before the U.S. Supreme
Court.
A second case involves the refusal of the government to release the names
of individuals who were arrested on immigration violations in the weeks
following September 11. This case is currently before an appeals court in
Washington.

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