National Security
The ACLU’s National Security Project is dedicated to ensuring that U.S. national security policies and practices are consistent with the Constitution, civil liberties, and human rights.
What you need to know
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What We're Focused On
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Detention
The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the...
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Discriminatory Profiling
“National security” has long been used to justify the unconstitutional profiling of, and discrimination against, Muslim, Black, Brown, and...
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Military Commissions
The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the...
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Privacy and Surveillance
The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the...
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Secrecy
The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the...
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Targeted Killing
The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the...
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Torture
The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the...
What's at Stake
Our Constitution, laws, and values are the foundation of our strength and security. Yet, after the attacks of September 11, 2001, our government engaged in systematic policies of torture, targeted killing, indefinite detention, mass surveillance, and religious discrimination. It violated the law, eroded many of our most cherished values, and made us less free and less safe.
Some of these policies, such as torture and extraordinary rendition, are no longer officially condoned. But most other policies—indefinite detention, targeted killing, trial by military commissions, warrantless surveillance, and racial, religious, and other forms of profiling—remain core elements of U.S. national security strategy today.
Through litigation and advocacy strategies, the National Security Project responds to specific government measures and also strives to educate the public and shape the law so that the courts, Congress, and citizenry can serve as an enduring check against abuse. We work to ensure that the U.S. government renounces policies and practices that disregard due process, enshrine discrimination, and turn everyone into a suspect. We also seek accountability and redress for the victims of abuses perpetrated in the name of our national security. These are the ways to rebuild American moral authority and credibility both at home and abroad.
Our Constitution, laws, and values are the foundation of our strength and security. Yet, after the attacks of September 11, 2001, our government engaged in systematic policies of torture, targeted killing, indefinite detention, mass surveillance, and religious discrimination. It violated the law, eroded many of our most cherished values, and made us less free and less safe.
Some of these policies, such as torture and extraordinary rendition, are no longer officially condoned. But most other policies—indefinite detention, targeted killing, trial by military commissions, warrantless surveillance, and racial, religious, and other forms of profiling—remain core elements of U.S. national security strategy today.
Through litigation and advocacy strategies, the National Security Project responds to specific government measures and also strives to educate the public and shape the law so that the courts, Congress, and citizenry can serve as an enduring check against abuse. We work to ensure that the U.S. government renounces policies and practices that disregard due process, enshrine discrimination, and turn everyone into a suspect. We also seek accountability and redress for the victims of abuses perpetrated in the name of our national security. These are the ways to rebuild American moral authority and credibility both at home and abroad.
