No Greater Threat: America After September 11 And The Rise Of
a National Security State
What they're saying about No Greater
Threat: America After September 11 And The Rise Of a National Security
State
"A unique guide and commentary. Immensely useful. A wake up call."
Prof. Howard Zinn, author, A People's History of the United
States
"A must read book."
Danny Schechter, Executive Producer Globalvision and The Media
Channel, author, The More You Watch, The Less You Know
"Sounds a shrill alarm."
Christopher Gaul, The Catholic Review
"[Speaks] out against the anti-terrorism legislation pushed through Congress
in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks."
The Daily Record (Baltimore)
"Extremely alarming."
Tom Siebert, The City Paper
"Analysis is fascinating and frightening."
"One wonders whether the [PATRIOT] act would have passed so quickly
had anyone bothered to read it remotely as closely as Michaels."
Susan Lantz, Indymedia
"Meticulously analyzes literally every single provision of the USA PATRIOT
Act."
"Michaels accurately recognizes [that] the Act is a "wish list" of powers
long sought by federal law enforcement and investigative agencies, chiefly
the FBI and CIA.'"
"The accuracy of Michaels's assessments and the prescience of his predictions
will ultimately be revealed by the passage of time. The value of his concerns
and encouragement for thoughtful debate, however, will undoubtedly continue
beyond that time."
Mark S. Zaid, FindLaw.com (attorney specializing in First and
Fifth Amendment litigation, Executive Director, James Madison Project)
"A well written and superbly documented resource."
"Hard to put down."
Randall K. Nichols (professor, Information Security (INFOSEC),
Wireless Security and Forensic Cryptology, George Washington University,
School of Engineering and Applied Science)
Comments on C. William Michaels'
No Greater Threat: America After September 11 And The Rise Of A National
Security State
[More detailed excerpts of reviews and comments]
In this very important study, C. W. Michaels gives us a unique guide
and commentary, based on meticulous research, to the ominous growth of
the national security state. His analysis of the USA PATRIOT Act is immensely
useful and a wake up call for all Americans concerned with defending our
civil liberties.
Prof. Howard Zinn, author, A People's History of the United
States
(from the back cover)
READ THIS BOOK! [Mr. Michaels has] put out a must read book...Howard Zinn
calls it a wake up call. I would go further. We have a need to know about
how this new national security culture will affect us in the future, and
affects us now....Our collective responsibility is to get it out and to
read it, understand it, and act on it.
Danny Schechter, Executive Producer Globalvision and The Media
Channel, author, The More You Watch, The Less You Know and Media Wars:
News At A Time of Terror/Dissecting News Since 9/11 (12/6/02) [posted on
national website]
No Greater Threat...sounds a shrill alarm, warning us of where we may
be headed, toward a new society in which George Orwell's "Big Brother"
and "The Thought Police" become all too real....The book includes a meticulous
description of each of the PATRIOT Act parts, identifies and examines 12
common characteristics of a national security state, and discusses how
those characteristics are taking shape, in some places very quickly....[we
need to] get out of the minefield the USA PATRIOT Act has, despite good
intentions, seeded for us. Reading Chuck Michaels' book is a start.
Christopher Gaul, The Catholic Review (Baltimore) (10/17/02)
Baltimore lawyer and writer C. William Michaels is one of the many who
have spoken out against the anti-terrorism legislation pushed through Congress
in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks....[He] believes the
law could easily be abused by over zealous officials, and he questions
whether it was needed in the first place.
The Daily Record (Baltimore) (11/23/02)
"Wake up call" is a good description of No Greater Threat, because it
is extremely alarming. Michaels identifies and examines 12 common characteristics
of a national security state, before dissecting the USA PATRIOT Act--the
federal security legislation that passed by Congress shortly after September
11, 2001, with almost no debate--and the spider web of government departments,
agencies, and decrees that will now interweave to form a Gordian knot of
potentially freedom-stifling bureaucracy... . He speaks with the passion
and conviction of the True Believer.
Tom Siebert, The City Paper (Baltimore) (12/11/02)
According to Baltimore lawyer, activist, and author C. William Michaels,
misperceptions abound as to what the PATRIOT Act really contains. In his
new book No Greater Threat: America After September 11 and the Rise of
a National Security State, Michaels debunks myths about the Act and outlines
its serious implications for the United States. ... It appears that the
executive branch used September 11th to give itself powers it always wanted
but never would have been granted otherwise. This power grab is just part
of what Michaels sees at the United States' move toward becoming a national
security state: a pattern that began over 20 years ago but that took a
giant leap forward with the PATRIOT Act and related executive orders.
The crux of No Greater Threat is a detailed, title by title explication
of the entire PATRIOT Act and what its provisions actually mean. While
this might sound like a dry read to the general audience, in fact the analysis
is fascinating and frightening. . . . That such provisions did not inspire
controversy is near-incredible, even with members of Congress eager to
throw support behind the president at all costs. One wonders whether the
act would have passed so quickly had anyone bothered to read it remotely
as closely as Michaels. ...
...Michaels writes that whether and to what extent America will become
a national security state will be decided in a very short time: within
the next three, no more than five, years.' No Greater Threat is an essential
reference for those who will be involved in the struggle to make sure it
does not.
Susan Lantz, Indymedia (Baltimore) (1/6/03) (www.baltimore.indymedia.org)
...Michaels meticulously analyzes literally every single provision of the
USA PATRIOT Act. ... While the timing of the Act's passage suggests to
the general public that it was in response to September 11, Michaels accurately
recognizes [that] the Act is a "wish list" of powers long sought by federal
law enforcement and investigative agencies, chiefly the FBI and CIA.' ...
Many also might find it a stretch to herald as Michaels does, that as
the year 2002 continues to the year 2003 and beyond, America is poised
precariously close to fulfilling nearly all of' the characteristics of
a national security state. Nevertheless, anyone reasonably concerned about
civil liberties and democracy has cause to consider seriously the words
Michaels has written. ...
There can be little question that the subject requires serious and public
analysis of the type authored by Michaels. It is this very level of dissent'
that is necessary to avoid falling into the National Security State chasm
Michaels is so rightly concerned about...
Americans may have been too eager, particularly in the wake of September
11, to embrace and trade the protections of civil liberties for what may
ultimately be recognized as a false sense of security.
Hopefully, every one of Michaels' concerns will turn out to be wrong
or greatly exaggerated. The accuracy of Michaels's assessments and the
prescience of his predictions will ultimately be revealed by the passage
of time. The value of his concerns and encouragement for thoughtful debate,
however, will undoubtedly continue beyond that time.
However we may view today's new society, as we move forward it may be
wise to continually remind ourselves of Benjamin Franklin's words of caution,
voiced more than 200 years ago: If we surrender our liberty in the name
of security, we shall have neither.
Mark S. Zaid, FindLaw.com (posted 1/24/03)
Mark S. Zaid is the Managing Partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm
of Krieger & Zaid, PLLC. Mr. Zaid specializes in national security,
FOIA and First and Fifth Amendment litigation. He is also the Executive
Director of The James Madison Project (www.jamesmadisonproject.org), a
non-profit organization that seeks to reduce secrecy and promote government
accountability, and the co-editor of "Litigation Under the Federal Open
Government Laws 2002."
[No Greater Threat is a] well written and superbly documented resource.
[The book is] hard to put down...
C. William Michaels has written a detailed analysis of the USA PATRIOT
Act in No Greater Threat: America After September 11 and the Rise of a
National Security State. (Algora, 2002). The USA PATRIOT Act provides for
much needed improvement in intelligence surveillance, investigation, law
enforcement, counter terrorism preparedness.* The author however is seriously
concerned with the effect on our society, reduction of our personal liberties
and potential abuses because of this legislation.
Randall K. Nichols (professor, Information Security (INFOSEC),
Wireless Security and Forensic Cryptology, George Washington University,
School of Engineering and Applied Science) (posted January 30, 2003)
*This assessment of the USA PATRIOT Act is the reviewer's, not the author's. |
