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Home Airlines Airports Destinations Fidelity Programs Travel Health Travel Tech Travel Tips Aircraft Air Safety Air Security NEWS News Center Events FLIGHTS Flight Status Flight Reservations Airport Status Airport Guides City Guides AIRGUIDE Subscribe Advertising Marketing Content Info Services About Us Contact Us Site Map	AIRLINE HEADLINES U.S. safer 10 years after 9/11, but at what cost? Tourists flock to Times Square for the bright lights and Broadway shows. There they find another spectacle: helmeted police with machine guns patrolling the subway station on the lookout for would-be bombers and gunmen.Ten years after the September 11 attacks of 2001, the United States has altered the balance between freedom and security, turning an open and casual society into an ever-vigilant one.The results are undeniable. The country has not suffered another attack, though there have been close calls like last year's failed Times Square bombing, when the makeshift explosives packed into a Pakistani-American's truck failed to detonate.But at what cost in lost liberty and dollars? Civil libertarians fear the era of surveillance and circumspection could become permanent.The United States has spent an additional $400 billion on security plus $1.3 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan before counting interest on the war debt and healthcare for veterans, according to the "Costs of War" research project by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.The president and police have more power, claiming more authority to snoop into the private lives of citizens with less oversight from the courts. Airport security are much more thorough.Soon after September 11, the U.S. government resorted to two controversial practices in response to threats from abroad -- extraordinary rendition -- the illegal transfer of foreign suspects captured abroad to a third country for detention and interrogation -- and imprisonment of suspected militants captured abroad at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."Ten years later, if we are still in this emergency mindset, then this is now who we are. This is the new normal," said Susan Herman, president of the American Civil Liberties Union. "At some point if you don't reverse that process you really have moved yourself into an Orwellian state." For many who remember the mass loss of life on that crisp, clear Tuesday morning 10 years ago, the "new normal" has served the country well. The Patriot Act, passed in October 2001, expanded the surveillance powers of U.S. law enforcement agencies. Incredible Growth for the Security Industry The reaction to September 11 also created a robust security industry that has benefited companies such as OSI Systems Inc, whose Rapiscan unit makes airport screening machines. OSI's annual revenue grew from $111 million to a high of $623 million in 2008. Analysts project revenues in the $700 million range for 2012.Other companies including L-3 Communications Holdings, Verint Systems Inc, FLIR Systems Inc and American Science and Engineering Inc saw dramatic growth but must adapt to tighter U.S. Department of Homeland Security spending because of Washington's budget crunch. The invasion of privacy is more unsettling, especially for Muslims and people of Middle Eastern descent who face discrimination and have been caught up in the security net. One prominent civil libertarian blames President Barack Obama for expanding the growth of executive power. Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University's law school, called Obama a "nightmare" who betrayed civil libertarians after campaigning against Bush's approach. King sees those concerns as misplaced and expressed confidence in the courts to protect innocent people who will inevitably be ensnared by police mistakes.	Airline News - Africa / Middle East - Asia - Europe - Latin America / Carib - North America Subscribe
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