The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission) held its sixth public hearing today on Capitol Hill. The focus of the hearing was “Security and Liberty.”

Former Deputy Atttorney General Larry Thompson defended the Patriot Act and the Government's terror war:

Larry D. Thompson, a former deputy attorney general, told the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that counterterror laws should be strengthened so suspected terrorists could be denied bail and prosecutors could move with more confidence against those who provide material support to terror organizations. Thompson urged the government to make permanent several time-limited provisions of the Patriot Act, which expanded the government's surveillance and detention power.

Two law professors, Stephen J. Schulhofer of NYU and Philip Heymann of Harvard and a deputy attorney general under former President Clinton, disagreed:

[Schulhofer] countered that more than a dozen government initiatives ``are demonstrably not justified as a response to 9-11.'' Limited resources that should be devoted to U.S. intelligence are being misspent on unnecessary new legal procedures, Schulhofer said. ``The common thread that runs through these measures,'' he said, ``is the erosion, and in many instances the complete obliteration, of traditional checks and balances.''

[Heymann in written testimony] said Congress should reject several assertions of authority invoked by the Bush administration in the name of security. They include the power to order military tribunals for U.S. residents who are not citizens and the power to collect information from an individual's associates while compelling the associates to keep the inquiry secret...

The commission will submit a report to Congress by May 27, 2004:

Congress created the bipartisan commission to study the nation's preparedness before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and its response to them. It also is to recommend safeguards against similar disasters.