DETROIT – The United States government has drawn sharp criticism for the methods it has used to intensify national security measures after 9/11. In a forum at Wayne State University titled, “Post 9/11 Legal Landscape,” speakers argued that some of the measures undermine the country’s core democratic values. 

Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor said the rapid increase of informants at mosques was unconstitutional because by law investigations by security agencies can only be launched after valid evidence of illegal activity is found. 

Cole said under the United States drone program rockets are being fired in other countries with no declaration of war. Because the drone program is operated by the CIA details on it are classified. 

He says if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was questioned about the program she would not be able to confirm or deny whether the U.S. was firing rockets at people because it’s classified information. 

“When you have a major government program in which the United States is firing rockets on Yemen and Pakistan and so forth and there’s no possibility of even a public discussion of these actions then you have taken a very long step away from (being) a democratic republic,” Cole said. 

 Zachary Katznelson, senior staff attorney at the National Security Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, says billions of dollars are being spent trying to catch terrorists and gather information on the American Muslim community. 

Katznelson said there really isn’t a lot of terrorism and concentrating on trying to catch terrorists distracts law enforcement from real criminals and issues including rape and robbery. “Attention is being diverted from issues like that. Of course it doesn’t mean terrorism isn’t critical. It absolutely is,” he said. 

He says for two years the FBI sent informants into local mosques to get evidence of suspicious activity.  “They just wanted to know what the Muslim community was about and they created a giant database of information about American Muslims just because they wanted to watch. That is an incredible waste of resources and must change,”  Katznelson said. 

He says the U.S. House of Representatives this year passed legislation that has not been approved by the Senate and grants the president authority to call for war anytime he feels the United States is threatened.   

He’s represented Guantanamo Bay prisoners and says the evidence held against detainees is not substantial enough, and evidence is often based on reports and not fact.  

“It was remarkable how many times the evidence when you actually probe into it just absolutely fell apart.”