U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft told the Corps of Cadets that
one of the biggest challenges facing our nation is finding the
balance between security and liberty. In his Greater Issues address,
Ashcroft talked about the impact of the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001.
Those attacks fundamentally changed the way the Justice Department
operates and how Americans think about national security, he said.
“The Justice Department was an organization that looked back,
prosecuting criminals for past deeds.” Immediately the department
changed its focus, looking to the future and gathering information
to prevent attacks rather than looking backwards and gathering
information to prosecute past offenses.
Ashcroft said the attacks also shattered our assumption that threats
to national security come from other nation states. The terrorist
attacks made it clear that “individuals or institutions of limited
size can threaten our existence.”
The former attorney general said that there should be robust debate
about the competing needs for information and privacy. “To disrupt
those things that would destroy us, we need information,” he said.
The balance between gathering information and protecting privacy are
“two currents in American culture that are on a collision course.”
“You will have to be the ones to reconcile these competing
needs,” he told the cadets.
At the conclusion of his address, Ashcroft received the honorary
degree of Doctor of Public Administration from The Citadel Board
of Visitors.
His address was co-sponsored by the Free Enterprise Foundation
which is affiliated with The Citadel School of Business. The
Greater Issues series is made possible by a grant from the Mills
B. Lane Memorial Foundation.
Ethics and Civic Responsibility
First Annual Award Banquet, Alumni Hall, The Citadel - March 1,
2006
