Hi ACLU Supporter –

On this day 18 years ago, the ACLU joined the nation in mourning the horrific 9/11 attack and the lives lost. We also made it clear that we'd be monitoring the government's response and would defend against any harm to people's civil rights and liberties – and the values to which our nation aspires.

Unfortunately, we soon found we had a big job to do. And we did it, believing that our national security is undermined, not enhanced, when our country sacrifices its commitment to core principles. So whether it was the Patriot Act, torture, Guantanamo Bay, or religious and racial profiling – we fought back on all fronts.

Learn about how 9/11 changed this country – and the ACLU – in our new series spotlighting some of the most important events in our 100 years.

When Congress was poised to pass the Patriot Act, giving the government vast new abusive surveillance powers, we opposed it – at a time when few were willing to do so. When the government detained hundreds of Muslim and Arab immigrants without access to family or lawyers, we filed the first of many post-9/11 lawsuits – to force an end to secrecy and injustice.

When our nation went back to debating principles that most of us considered well settled – like the absolute prohibition against torture – we worked to make a difference. One of our biggest successes in those years was filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to expose the torture program. The tens of thousands of pages of documents we released to the public fundamentally changed the discourse, helping to end the torture program.

Over the next several years, we increasingly concentrated our national security work on surveillance and privacy, racial and religious discrimination at home, and unlawful detention and killings abroad, including of U.S. citizens.

Read more about the ACLU's legal work in the aftermath of 9/11 in our new historical series.

Our work is just as necessary today because people's lives, liberty, and rights are at stake. We take pride in our steadfast commitment to our principles even, and especially, during challenging times in U.S. history – and I know you do too. Our dedication to fairness, equality, and fundamental rights is what makes this nation strong. Your support allows us to maintain this commitment as we continue to fight for civil rights and liberties – today, and for the next 100 years.

Thanks for reading,

Hina Shamsi
Director of the ACLU National Security Project

P.S. Last year, I was on the ACLU podcast, At Liberty, talking about how the government's response to 9/11 has changed our country, and what we need to do to get it back on track. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts – and don't forget to subscribe.