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Appendix M: Public Opinion Data on U.S. Attitudes Toward Government Counterterrorism Efforts
Pages 281-334

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From page 281...
... On the other hand, technological advances mean that government surveillance in the interests of national security is potentially more sweeping in scope and more exhaustive in detail than at any time in the past, and thus it may represent a greater degree of intrusion on privacy and other civil liberties than the American public has ever experienced. In this appendix, we review the results of public opinion surveys that gauge the public's reaction to government surveillance measures and information-gathering activities designed to foster national security.
From page 282...
... The public consistently opposed the consolidation of information on citizens in centralized files or databanks, and federal legislation attempted to preserve existing privacy protections in the context of new technological developments.2 By the 1990s, however, technological advances -- including the rise of the Internet, the widespread adoption of wireless communication, the decoding of human DNA, the development of data mining software, increasing automation of government records, the increasing speed and decreasing cost of computing and online storage power -- occurred so quickly that they outpaced efforts to modify legislation to protect privacy, as well as the public's ability to fully comprehend their privacy implications, contributing to high salience of privacy considerations and concerns.3 The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, thus occurred in a charged environment, in which the public already regarded both business and government as potential threats to privacy. Almost immediately, the passage of the Patriot Act in 2001 raised questions about the appropriate nature and scope of the government's expanded powers and framed the public debate in terms of a sacrifice of civil liberties, including privacy, in the interests of national security.
From page 283...
... Westin identified five influences on people's attitudes toward the balance between security and civil liberties: perceptions of terrorist threat; assessment of government effectiveness in dealing with terrorism; perceptions of how government terrorism prevention programs are affecting civil liberties; prior attitudes toward security and civil liberties; and broader political orientations, which may in turn be shaped by demographic and other social background factors.6 This review confirms the role of these influences on public attitudes toward privacy and security in the post-9/11 era. This examination of research on attitudes toward government surveillance since 9/11 leads us to draw the following general conclusions: 1.
From page 284...
... 5. The public tends to defend civil liberties more vigorously in the abstract than in connection with threats for specific purposes.
From page 285...
... Holbrook, J.A Kronsnick, and A Pfent, "Response Rates in Surveys by the News Media and Government Survey Research Firms," paper presented at the Second Conference on Telephone Survey Methodology, Miami, Fla., January 14, 2006.
From page 286...
... : airport security, biometrics, bioterrorism, civil liberties, civil rights, data, database, data mining, health, medical, monitor, personal information, privacy, rights, safety, search, scan, screen, security, surveillance, technology, terrorism, trust, video. Second, we searched the reports archived at the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (http://people-press.org/reports/)
From page 287...
... Section M.5, "Government Surveillance" begins with an overview of responses to a variety of surveillance measures, as examined in repeated surveys conducted by Harris Interactive. We then review data on attitudes toward seven specific areas of surveillance or monitoring: • Communications monitoring • Monitoring of financial transactions • Video surveillance • Travel security • Biometric identification technologies • Government use of databases and data mining • Public health uses of medical information Section M.6 is devoted to a consideration of attitudes toward the balance between defense of privacy and other civil rights that may interfere with effective terrorism investigation, on one hand, and terrorism pre
From page 288...
... In the concluding section, we discuss several factors that affect beliefs about the proper balance between liberty and security. M.4 GENERAL PRIVACY ATTITUDES Figure M.1 displays results from a question asked by survey research ers throughout the 1990s: "How concerned are you about threats to your personal privacy in America today?
From page 289...
... By September 2005, when the question was repeated in a CBS/New York Times poll, over half thought it was under serious threat, and 30 percent thought it had already been lost. Just 16 percent regarded it as "basically safe." Such pessimism may reflect generalized fears of privacy invasion, fueled by media reports of compromised security and ads that play to anxiety about fraud and identity theft; in addition, it may betray concerns about government intrusions on privacy in the post-9/11 era.
From page 290...
... FIGURE M.2 "How much do you worry that computers and technology are being used to invade your privacy? " (surveys M-2.eps Fig by PSRA, ABC News, and Marist College, 1994-2005)
From page 291...
... . When a similar question was asked in 2005 by CBS/NYT, 61 percent thought banks and credit card companies, alone or in combination with other groups, posed the greatest threat, while 28 percent named the federal government alone or in combination with other groups (CBS/NYT 9/05)
From page 292...
... TABLE M.2 Support for Government Surveillance Measures (Harris Surveys, 2001-2006)  September March February February September June February July 2001a 2002 2003 2004 2004 2005 2006 2006 Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Here are some increased powers of investigation that law enforcement agencies might use when dealing with people suspected of terrorist activity, which would also affect our civil liberties.
From page 293...
... TABLE M.2 Continued September March February February September June February July 2001a 2002 2003 2004 2004 2005 2006 2006 Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent Issuance of a secure ID 84 78 75 76 -- -- -- -- technique for persons to access government and business computer systems, to avoid disruptions Closer monitoring of banking 81 72 67 64 67 62 66 61 and credit card transactions, to trace funding sources Adoption of a national ID 68 59 64 56 60 61 64 -- system for all U.S. citizens Expanded camera surveillance 63 58 61 61 60 59 67 70 on streets and in public places Law enforcement monitoring 63 55 54 50 59 57 60 62 of Internet discussions in chat rooms and other forums Expanded government 54 44 44 36 39 37 44 52 monitoring of cell phones and e-mail, to intercept communications aFieldwork conducted September 19-24, 2001.
From page 294...
... Other data support this conclusion as well: Table M.3 shows results from questions about surveillance measures asked in Pew surveys, which reveal that acceptance of racial/ethnic profiling is also comparatively high. And in surveys carried out by CBS/ NYT, respondents were asked whether they "would be willing to allow government agencies to monitor the telephone calls and e-mail of ordinary Americans." Beginning in 2003, they were also asked the same question with regard to the communications "of Americans the government is suspicious of." The data, plotted in Figure M.3, indicate that support for monitoring the communications of people the government is suspicious of is much higher than support for monitoring those of ordinary Americans.
From page 295...
... 26 22b 33 24 22b 34 government to monitor your personal telephone calls and e-mails Allowing the U.S. 40 32b 43 29 26b 42 government to monitor your credit card purchases aThe word "your" was omitted from the question text.
From page 296...
... The upturn for "Americans the government is suspicious of" shows an earlier increase as well, possibly in response to the London Underground bombings. Second, Pew Center survey questions on monitoring of communications reveal similar declines in support after the immediate post-9/11 period (Table M.3)
From page 297...
... In these experiments, half the sample was asked the questions about communications and credit card purchase monitoring in the usual form, while the other half of the sample heard the questions in a more impersonal form produced simply by omitting the word "your": "Allowing the U.S. government to monitor personal telephone calls and e-mails"; "Allowing the U.S.
From page 298...
... "a (Opinion Dynamics/Fox News) "It's been reported that the National 63 35 2 Security Agency has been collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans.
From page 299...
... were asked whether they approved because they felt the program did not "seriously violate" civil liberties or because they thought it was more important to investigate terrorism: 69 percent believed that terrorism investigation was the more important goal (GAL/USA 5/06)
From page 300...
... That opposition may betray public skepticism about the effectiveness and accuracy of the program. According to the CBS survey, 46 percent thought the phone call records database program would be "effective in reducing the threat of terrorism," 43 percent thought it would not be effective, and 11 percent were uncertain.
From page 301...
... Other trend data on video surveillance attitudes also suggest that support is widespread, particularly when linked to terrorism prevention. In 1998, a CBS News poll asked respondents whether installing video cameras on city streets was "a good idea because they may help to reduce crime," or "a bad idea because [they]
From page 302...
... In 2002, Fox News asked a sample of registered voters whether they thought the "random frisks and bag searches at airport security checkpoints are mostly for show" or whether they were "effective ways to prevent future terrorist attacks." The poll found that 41 percent thought the searches were for show and 45 percent thought they were effective, with 14 percent unsure (OD/FOX 4/02)
From page 303...
... In a survey conducted in late September 2001 (HI/ID 9/01a) , respondents were read the following description of an electronic fingerprint scanning process that could facilitate check-in and security procedures: I would like to read you a description of a new airport security solution and get your opinion.
From page 304...
... . M.5.7 Government Use of Databases and Data Mining Reports about the telephone records database program, discussed separately above, offer a view of public reaction to a specific instance of government compilation and searching of data.
From page 305...
... When respondents are not forced to choose between terrorism prevention and privacy, they express substantial concern about such efforts. In May 2006, in the context of questions about the telephone call records database program, Gallup asked respondents, "How concerned are you that the government is gathering other information on the general public, such as their bank records or Internet usage?
From page 306...
... The study found that, although 67 percent of respondents claimed to be aware of federal laws protecting the privacy and confidentiality of medical records and 59 percent could recall receiving a privacy notice, only 27 percent thought they now had more rights than before. The study recorded high levels of concern about medical privacy: 67 percent of respondents overall and 73 percent of those belonging to an ethnic minority were "very" or "somewhat concerned" about the privacy of their "personal medical records."16 And 52 percent of respondents were worried that insurance claims information might be used against them by their employers -- an increase of 16 percentage points over the 1999 figure (FOR/CHCF Summer/05; California Health Care Foundation 2005)
From page 307...
... Even in 1978, Harris reported that 65 percent of respondents thought that it was important for Congress to pass additional privacy legislation in the area of medicine and health, as well as in the area of insurance -- a larger proportion than favored such legislation for employment, mailing lists, credit cards, telephone call records, or public opinion polling (HARRIS 11/78)
From page 308...
... For example, in 1992, 56 percent of respondents had "a great deal" of concern about "a health insurance company putting medical information about you into a computer information bank that others have access to" (RA/ACLUF 11/92, survey conducted via personal interview)
From page 309...
... . Some of these benefits take the form of increased control over the content of medical records: in the Markle Foundation survey, 91 percent of respondents wanted to have access to electronic health records in order to "see what their doctors write down," and 84 percent in order to check for errors (LRP/AV 11/06; Markle Foundation 2006)
From page 310...
... M.6 THE BALANCE BETWEEN CIVIL LIBERTIES AND TERRORISM INVESTIGATION In recent years, survey organizations have used several broad questions asking respondents to weigh the competing priorities of terrorism investigation, on one hand, and protection of privacy or civil liberties, on the other. Although such questions are artificial in that they present the conflict between protection of individual rights and security in extreme, all-or-nothing terms, they do reflect the reality that support for civil rights is not an absolute value, but is dependent on judgments about the importance of other strongly held values.20 In this section we review data from such forced-choice questions to examine public willingness to exchange privacy for security.
From page 311...
... Shortly after 9/11, in January 2002, 47 percent thought that "the government should take all steps necessary" for terrorism prevention (data not shown) , but roughly half of respondents defended the preservation of civil liberties.
From page 312...
... 2006 Sep. 2006 Survey Date FIGURE M.4 Support for preserving privacy/civil liberties in the course of terrorism prevention (surveys by Gallup, Quinnipiac University, ABC, 2002-2006)
From page 313...
... 2006 (CBS) Survey Date FIGURE M.5 Concern that government will enact anti-terrorism laws that restrict civil liberties (surveys by Los Angeles Times, PSRA, and CBS News, 1995-2006)
From page 314...
... Concern for preserving civil liberties (Figure M.5) has also been more stable, though we note that the peak in May 2006 coincided with reports on the NSA telephone records database.24 Thus, it is not only attitudes toward specific surveillance measures that are responsive to perceptions of increased threat (see Table M.2 23 It should also be noted that these two observations showing lower support are both from studies carried out by Quinnipiac University, in contrast to all other observations, which are from Gallup surveys.
From page 315...
... During that period, the Pew Research Center/PSRA asked, "In order to curb terrorism in this country, do you think it will be necessary for the average person to give up some civil liberties, or not? "25 And beginning in September 2001, CBS News asked, "Do you think Americans will have to give up some of their personal freedoms in order to make the country safe from terrorist attacks, or not?
From page 316...
... 1997 Apr. 2002 July 2003 July 2004 July 2005 Survey Date FIGURE M.6 Beliefs about need to give up civil liberties in order to curb terror ism (surveys by PSRA and CBS News, 1996-2006)
From page 317...
... In February 2006, roughly three-quarters of respondents were concerned about the potential for abuses of civil liberties by the courts and Congress, with slightly fewer concerned about inappropriate use of powers by law enforcement. Con cerns about abuses by law enforcement changed little over the five-year period, while concerns about lapses by the courts and Congress declined slightly.
From page 318...
... . Judges who authorize 79 78 77 75 76 investigations would not look closely enough at the justifications for that surveillance Congress would not 78 75 74 75 75 include adequate safeguards for civil liberties when authorizing these increased powers Law enforcement would 68 67 68 68 68 investigate legitimate political and social groups The White House would -- -- 69 72 75 not issue the proper rules for legal due process for government surveillance programs The mail, telephone, 72 76 -- -- -- e-mails, or cell-phone calls of innocent people would be checked Non-violent critics of 71 76 -- -- -- government policies would have their mail, telephone, e-mails, or cell-phone calls checked New surveillance powers 67 71 would be used to investigate crimes other than terrorism There would be broad 77 73 -- -- -- profiling of people and searching them based on their nationality, race, or religion SOURCE: HI 9/01, 2/04, 9/04, 6/05, 2/06.
From page 319...
... The trends discussed above point to growing support for defending privacy and other civil liberties, even at some cost to terrorism investigation; to sustained high levels of concern, after the immediate post-9/11 period, that antiterrorism laws will restrict civil liberties; to declining public conviction that sacrifice of civil liberties is truly necessary for terrorism prevention; to decreasing personal willingness to sacrifice freedom for the sake of terrorism investigation; and to stability or slight increases in concern about abuses of expanded powers. The influence of specific events, such as terrorist incidents, news about terrorist activity, and reports of surveillance programs, can be discerned as high and low points in the overall trends.
From page 320...
... Such willingness is most clearly visible in the contrast between the high levels of support for restricting terrorism prevention steps to those that preserve civil liberties, shown in Figure M.4, and the even higher levels of support for individual surveillance measures, shown in Table M.2. The widespread belief that sacrifices of civil liberties will be required in order to combat terrorism, as well as respondents' willingness to countenance such sacrifices (see Figures M.6 and M.7)
From page 321...
... Following Davis and Silver,32 we would expect declines in trust in government to be reflected in increased concern for preservation of civil liberties, 29 Whether numerous other instances of terrorism -- the Madrid train bombings of 2004, the attacks on a residential compound for foreigners in Saudi Arabia in 2003, and the Bali bombing of 2002, among others -- may likewise have increased threat perception among the American public, we cannot say, because pollsters did not conduct surveys (or did not ask questions about surveillance and/or civil liberties versus security) in the immediate aftermath of those incidents.
From page 322...
... When data were obtained from sources other than the iPOLL Databank, the survey entry identifies the report or Web site from which the data were obtained. M.8.2 Research Organization/Sponsor Name Abbreviations ABC ABC News ABC/WP ABC News/Washington Post CBS CBS News CBS/NYT CBS News/New York Times CRC/PAR Charleton Research Company for Parade Magazine FOR/CHCF Forrester Research for the California HealthCare Foundation GAL Gallup Organization GAL/CNN/USA Gallup Organization for CNN/USA Today
From page 323...
...  APPENDIX M GAL/USA Gallup Organization for USA Today GRN/EBRI Matthew Greenwald and Associates for Employee Benefit Research Institute, Consumer Heath Education Council HARRIS Louis Harris and Associates HI Harris Interactive HI/ID Harris Interactive for Identix H&M/NBC/WSJ Hart and McInturff Research Companies for NBC News/Wall Street Journal H&T Hart and Teeter Research Companies H&T/NBC/WSJ Hart and Teeter Research Companies for NBC News/Wall Street Journal ICR/NPR International Communications Research for National Public Radio, the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government LAT Los Angeles Times LRP/AV Lake Research Partners and American Viewpoint for the Markle Foundation MAR Marist College Institute for Public Opinion OD/FOX Opinion Dynamics for Fox News OSR/MSU Office for Survey Research of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University PAF/RMA Public Agenda Foundation and Robinson and Muenster Associates for the National Constitution Center PSRA Princeton Survey Research Associates PSRA/CHCF Princeton Survey Research Associates for the California Health Care Foundation PSRA/NW Princeton Survey Research Associates for Newsweek PSRA/PEW Princeton Survey Research Associates for the Pew Research Center QNS/IR Ipsos-Reid for Queens University, Canada QU Quinnipiac University Polling Institute RA/ACLUF Response Analysis for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation SRBI/TIME Schulman, Ronca and Bucuvalas for Time TNS/GMF TNS Opinion and Social Institutes for the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.
From page 324...
... Telephone survey conducted by TNS Intersearch for ABC News/Washington Post with a national adult sample of 502. Fieldwork carried out May 11, 2006.
From page 325...
... Telephone survey con ducted by CBS News/New York Times, with a national adult sample of 1,052. Fieldwork carried out December 7-10, 2001.
From page 326...
... Telephone survey conducted by Gallup Organization for CNN and USA Today, with a national adult sample of 1,011. Fieldwork carried out January 25-27, 2002.
From page 327...
... Telephone survey conducted by Matthew Greenwald and Associates for Employee Ben efit Research Institute, Consumer Education Council, with a national adult sample of 1,003. Fieldwork carried out June 30-August 6, 2005.
From page 328...
... Telephone survey conducted by Hart and Teeter Research Companies for the Council for Excellence in Government, with a national adult sample of 1,023. Fieldwork carried out February 19-25, 2003.
From page 329...
... Telephone survey conducted by Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, with a national adult sample of approximately 900. Fieldwork carried out during February 1996.
From page 330...
... Telephone survey conducted by the Office for Survey Research of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University, with a national adult sample of 1,448. An oversample of African American and Hispanic respondents was included, but results reported here are weighted to be representative of the national adult population.
From page 331...
... Telephone survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates for Newsweek with a national adult sample of 1,007. Fieldwork carried out May 11-12, 2006.
From page 332...
... Telephone survey con ducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates for the Pew Research Center, with a national adult sample of 1,212. Fieldwork carried out June 19-23, 2002.
From page 333...
... Telephone survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates for Times Mirror, with a national adult sample of 3,667, including an oversample of 207 modem users. Fieldwork carried out January 4-February 17, 1994.
From page 334...
... Telephone survey con ducted by Winston Group for New Models with a national sample of 1,000 registered voters. Fieldwork carried out May 16-17, 2006.


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