Information about Homeland Security Act Of 2002

The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135 (Nov. 25, 2002), introduced in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, created the Department of Homeland Security in the largest government reorganization in 50 years, since the Department of Defense was created. The HSA is a sweeping anti-terrorism bill giving federal law enforcement agencies broad powers to monitor citizens.

The new department created by the 35-page Homeland Security Act assumed a number of government functions previously conducted in other departments. It superseded, but did not replace the Office of Homeland Security, which retained an advisory role.

Civil liberties concerns

Some have argued, that civil liberties are imperiled by the Homeland Security Act. Those liberties include constitutional rights such as the rights to freedom of speech, religion, assembly and privacy; the rights to counsel and due process; and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Such concerns have also been raised in connection with the USA PATRIOT Act and the establishment of the Office of Total Information Awareness, both initiatives of the George W. Bush administration.

Eli Lilly rider to HSA

Political analysts and the parents of autistic children were baffled when it was learned, shortly after the passage of the HSA, that a rider to the bill had been added just prior to passage, that would shield Eli Lilly and the pharmaceutical industry from billions of dollars in anticipated lawsuits over vaccines. "It's a mystery to us," who inserted the rider, said Eli Lilly spokesman Rob Smith at the time. The provision was designed to force lawsuits over the preservative thiomersal, calling the suits into a special 'vaccine court'^[1]. Thiomersal was used in a some vaccines originally developed and marketed by Eli Lilly in 1930, two decades before autism spectrum disorders were first described by Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger. The provision could have resulted in the dismissal of thousands of cases filed by parents, who contend mercury in thimerosal poisoned their children, causing autism and other neurological ailments, but the congress convened in 2003. Senate Bill 3, currently under consideration as of June, 2005, may restore elements of the rider.

See also

• Homeland Security Appropriations Act

External links

Official U.S. Government

• WhiteHouse.gov - Text of the Homeland Security Act
• DHS.gov - United States Department of Homeland Security
• House.gov - US House Committee on Homeland Security homepage
• WhiteHouse.gov - The White House Homeland Security webpage
• ANSI.org - ANSI Homeland Security Standards Panel (ANSI-HSSP)
• Ready.gov - DHS website promoting readiness to defend against attack

Neutral

• Critics Say Security Laws Sacrifice Civil Liberties - Article in PC World

Critical

• Homeland Security Act: The Rise of the American Police State
• Evidence of Harm

Notes