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"A host of disturbing and mutually-reinforcing patterns have emerged in the resulting new Homeland Security State,: among them: a virtually unopposed increase in the intrusion of military, intelligence, and 'security' agencies into the civilian sector of American society; federal abridgment of basic rights; denials of civil liberties on flimsy or previously illegal premises; warrant-less sneak-and-peak searches; the wholesale undermining of privacy safeguards; the greater empowerment of secret intelligence courts (like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court) that threaten civil liberties; and heavy-handed federal and local law enforcement tactics designed to chill, squelch or silence dissent. "