One Nation Under Surveillance

"One Nation Under Surveillance is a valuable contribution to this whole area of study, and is highly recommended for both graduatelevel and upper-level undergraduate courses covering National Security, Intelligence, and Privacy Law. * William Greene, International Journal of Constitutional Law * One Nation Under Surveillance is rich in theory and crafted with a scholarly eye. Chesterman concisely surveys the political history and jurisprudential treatment of intelligence activities, before providing an engaging comparative perspective on the flawed approaches pursued by the United States, United Kingdom and United Nations in recent times. * Alexis Kalagas, The Global Journal08/04/2012 * This is a unique work that will make for a thought-provoking addition to the reading list of any student doing political theory or international relations theory. It will be of particular interest to those students looking for a new theoretical perspective on civil rights and the Big Brother state in the post 9/11 era. * eInternational Relations * a timely examination of the theory and practice of governmental surveillance, with particular focus on the Anglophone democracies and the United Nations. One Nation Under Surveillance is a cogent contribution to the growing body of post-9/11 literature examining contemporary political developments in tension with the fundamental values of political liberalism, in this case particularly the right to privacy and due process of lawit is a welcome addition to any library and will prove to be a valuable resource for students and researchers in the area. And, it is to be hoped, for our policymakers and 'deciders' * Jason G. Allen, Journal of Law and Information Science * I recommend this book to everybody interested in private civil libertiess * London Letter * Chesterman's book provides a selective field guide to some of the best that has been said about intelligence and national security strained through the author's experience and legal knowledge ... a fine teaching device and is, as book blurbs say, ""highly recommended"". * Gary T. Marx, Times Higher Education Supplement * In One Nation Under Surveillance, Simon Chesterman, a law professor at the National University of Singapore and New York University, maintains that privacy is already a dead letter, and proposes that we concentrate instead on regulating the governments use of the information it gathers, rather than futilely seeking to control surveillance itself. He argues convincingly that the specter of catastrophic terrorist attacks creates extraordinary pressure for intrusive monitoring; that technological advances have made the collection and analysis of vast amounts of previously private information entirely feasible; and that in a culture transformed by social media, in which citizens are increasingly willing to broadcast their innermost thoughts and acts, privacy may already be as outmoded as chivalry. * David Cole, New York Review of Books * This book squarely faces the taboo subject of domestic privacy in an era of Islamist terrorism. Our enemies are not nation-states, so the targets of the intelligence services seeking to pre-empt terrorist attacks must be individuals. The casualty will be individual privacy. People will struggle against heightened surveillance, Chesterman notes, but the war will be lost. A must-read for anyone interested in staying current about the privacy implications of the war on terror. * Frederick P. Hitz, former Inspector General, CIA * This is an important book, breaking new ground in the sweep of its analysis, its analytical insights, and the policy implications it draws out. It shows just how often foreign and domestic intelligence gathering in the major democracies has been insensitive to public accountability, legality, and its consequences for individuals, to the detriment of both liberty and security and how this can and must change. Simon Chesterman writes, as always, with compelling clarity and authority. * Gareth Evans, President Emeritus of the International Crisis Group and former Foreign Minister of Australia * Simon Chesterman offers a clear, thoughtful, and incisive analysis of the long-standing tension between civil liberties, on the one hand, and security against threats to the polity, on the other hand. He takes a new tact on this old dilemma by probing into the question of what governments actually do with all the information they gather on their citizens. This is an interesting and provocative book. * Loch K. Johnson, University of Georgia * Simon Chesterman moves the debate on privacy beyond the question of whether the government and its intelligence services should have access to personal information to the realistic recognition that electronic transparency is here to stay. In a series of carefully articulated arguments, Chesterman outlines mechanisms that can hold governments accountable for the uses of that information. In so doing, he points the way to a twenty-first century rethinking of notions of privacy, security, and the laws that regulate them. * Karen J. Greenberg, Center on Law and Security, New York University School of Law *"