ACLU official to address surveillance, war on terror

Civil liberties and government spying on U.S. citizens will be the topic of a lecture Monday presented by the associate director of the ACLU’s national office in Washington, D.C.

Gregory T. Nojeim, who is also the ACLU’s chief legislative counsel, will present “Listening In: Surveillance of Americans in the War on Terrorism” at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 4340 W. Fort Wright Drive in Spokane.

He’ll make the same presentation at noon on the University of Idaho campus.

The former director of legal services for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Nojeim has been instrumental in developing the ACLU’s responses to the recent anti-terrorism legislation. Since he joined the ACLU in 1995, Nojeim has been responsible for analyzing the civil liberties implications of federal legislation relating to terrorism, national security, immigration and informational privacy.

The ACLU is a nationwide, nonpartisan organization made up of about 400,000 members “devoted to protecting the principles of freedom and equality set forth in the U.S. Constitution and civil rights laws.” Monday night’s presentation is sponsored by the Spokane County chapter of the ACLU.