Will the Pentagon begin spying on Americans? Military intelligence agencies have had little authority within American borders since the 1970s when Army agents were caught snooping on antiwar protesters. Today, however, the Pentagon is looking to increase its domestic powers.

Newsweek reports:

Without any public hearing or debate, NEWSWEEK has learned, Defense officials recently slipped a provision into a bill before Congress that could vastly expand the Pentagon's ability to gather intelligence inside the United States, including recruiting citizens as informants. ... [T]he new provision, approved in closed session last month by the Senate Intelligence Committee, would eliminate one big restriction: that they comply with the Privacy Act, a Watergate-era law that requires government officials seeking information from a resident to disclose who they are and what they want the information for.

A report by the Senate Intelligence Committee says the provision would allow military intel agents to "approach potential sources and collect personal information from them" without disclosing they work for the government. ... "This... is giving them the authority to spy on Americans," said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, a group frequently critical of the war on terror. "And it's all been done with no public discussion, in the dark of night."

National security and defense against terrorism are being used to justify all manner of things — just as communism was once used. Terrorism is a valid concern, but the destruction of civil liberties is just as valid of a concern.

Read More:

• News on Free Speech and Civil Liberties
• Recent Books on Free Speech
• Court Decisions on Free Speech and Censorship
• War on Terrorism