From Publishers Weekly
A Carter administration advisor on domestic affairs, Etzioni is director of the Institute of Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University. Beginning with poll data and crime statistics, Etzioni takes as a premise that public safety measures can be crucial to democracy, but not that "any and all" safety measures enhance liberty. He then goes on to detail security measures undertaken in the U.S. since September 11th; review levels of privacy and security in differing forms of electronic communication, as well as the possible threats they pose; assess the threat of bioterrorism; debate the possibility of national ID cards; and probe the possibilities of nation building for national security. He finds parts of the Patriot Act "reasonable and necessary" (the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) and others "troubling" (military tribunals). All of his arguments are footnoted, most are brief and a few, such as strengthening public health, "would be in the community’s interest even if no further acts of terrorism were to occur." While seemingly not comprehensive given the Patriot Act’s enormous heft, Etzioni’s brief treatise makes for a reasonable starting point for debate.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Etzioni concerns himself less with the Patriot Act itself than with broader questions of how well in a post-9/11 environment American society can protect citizens against terrorist threats without damaging or discarding those individual rights that are the nation's legal hallmarks. He enumerates a host of challenges that modern technology poses to individual freedoms. His views on dealing with attacks on public health from biological weapons include some potentially controversial remedies. In assessing likely threats and benefits from national identification cards, Etzioni lays bare the ubiquity and uselessness of state-issued driver's licenses, currently the nation's most accepted certificate of identity and its most often counterfeited. Etzioni saves his most profound criticism for current American efforts to build democratic societies in countries lacking either the social or political institutions and traditions within which to build rational orders respectful of individual rights and tolerant of diverse opinion. Readers looking for a rigorous legal encounter with the Patriot Act may be disappointed, but Etzioni has provided a very approachable resource for student essays and debates. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
In his most recent State of the Union Address, President Bush called upon Congress to enact legislation that would extend the time-limited provisions of the controversial anti-terror law known as the Patriot Act (they are scheduled to expire on December 31st, 2005). Championed by Attorney General John Ashcroft and approved by Congress in the fearful aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Patriot Act has been cast by its critics as the greatest threat to our civil liberties since the Alien and Sedition Acts or the suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War. Yet, as Amitai Etzioni argues, 'any reasonable deliberation about our national security is the recognition that we face two profound commitments: protecting our homeland and safeguarding our rights.' In this short book, Etzioni, the well-known and respected public intellectual and communitarian thinker, charts a middle course, or third way 'between those who are committed to shore up our liberties but blind to the needs of public security, as well as those who never met a right they are not willing to curtail to give authorities an even freer hand.' This book will prove a useful guide for citizens looking for a thought provoking, well-reasoned and sober analysis of one of the hot button issues of our time.

About the Author
Amitai Etzioni is the Director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at the George Washington University in Washington D.C. He has authored twenty-two books.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"How Patriotic is the Patriot Act? provides a comprehensive examination of many of the individual measures contained in the Patriot Act. Etzioni holds these measures to the standard set forth in the 4[superscript th] Amendment prohibiting unreasonable search and seizures and assesses how reasonable the provisions set forth in the Patriot Act are in a post 9/11 world." How Patriotic is the Patriot Act? is an essential guide for citizens seeking answers to one of the most pressing questions of the 21[superscript st] century: how do we balance our security and freedom in an age of terrorism?

SYNOPSIS