Everybody panic, the rule of law is functioning as desired

The Hill is alive with the sound of panic, lately, as Republicans and Democrats alike are in a frenzy to establish national security policies based on fear. Since the attempted Christmas Day attack, fear has been driving a debate over how Abdulmutallab should be treated. Many have expressed outrage that he was read his Miranda rights, suggesting that he was spilling all kinds of information until he was told he had a right not to. Treating terrorists as the criminals that they are, it was suggested, meant sacrificing key national security information and potentially endangering American lives. Senator Graham introduced a bill yesterday that would deny funding for civilian trials of terrorist suspects. The Obama Administration’s entire national security program has come under fire.

Fast forward to yesterday’s news that Abdulmutallab has been talking – and providing actionable intelligence – while in custody. Whoops.

It turns out a month of legal interrogation works better than waterboarding someone 183 times. Experienced interrogators have been saying so for some time. In a recent video, Liz Cheney’s organization tried to make “Miranda” sound scary - when what’s really scary is Liz Cheney’s fear mongering.

Some politicians seem pretty embarrassed by the whole thing, and are already backpedaling. Now would be a great time to internalize this lesson. Fear can’t define our policies, and our tried and true institutions – federal courts – are well-equipped to handle terrorism cases.