Government Surveillance and the Bill of Rights

constitution day address

The United States officially recognizes Sept. 17 as Constitution and Citizenship Day in commemoration of the Sept. 17, 1787, signing of the U.S. Constitution.

National security expert, frequent media commentator and civil-liberties advocate Kate Martin will discuss government surveillance and constitutional rights in a lecture at Dickinson on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. in the Stern Center Great Room. The event is free and open to the public and will be recorded for statewide broadcast on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN).

The extent of U.S. government surveillance capabilities has prompted heated debate over the demands of an open government and the constitutionality of surveillance. Martin will discuss how the need for upholding the Constitution can be balanced with the need to provide adequate national security. Martin has worked on issues of national security and intelligence for more than 25 years. She has served as director of the Center for National Security Studies—a think tank and advocacy organization—since 1992 and as director of its Litigation Project since 1988. Martin also has served as general counsel for the National Security Archive and has been the driving force behind several court cases undertaken to ensure an open government.

She frequently testifies before Congress regarding issues of national security and regularly provides expert commentary for PBS NewsHour, NPR, The New York Times and The Washington Post. She also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy. Martin has taught strategic intelligence and public policy at the Georgetown University Law School and national security law at George Washington University.

The event is presented as the annual Constitution Day Address, which celebrates the signing of the U.S. Constitution and commemorates Dickinson’s connection to that document through John Dickinson’s participation as an original signer. It is endowed through the generosity of Winfield C. Cook, a former Dickinson trustee, and is sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law. It is co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund with the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Project on Civilian-Military Educational Cooperation. It is also part of The Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty series.

Previous Constitution Day speakers have included Kenneth Starr, Ira Glasser, Lowell Weicker, Marjorie Rendell, Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff. For more information, visit www.clarkeforum.org or call 717-245-1875.

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Published September 15, 2014