By Spencer Freund

Recently a bill has been approved in both houses of the congress and in the senate. This bill is called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and is the military’s budget bill. However, this bill has created some controversy in the United States. A portion of this bill gives the president authority to indefinitely detain terrorist suspects, including American citizens, without a proper trial. Another portion states that certain detainees must be held by the U.S. Armed Forces. Many believe that these provisions go against some of the rights that American citizens are guaranteed in our constitution. However, there are still others who believe that it is necessary to maintain security and safety within our country.

I am personally against the NDAA. It gives one portion of our government far too much power. If this act were to become reality, the executive branch would be able to detain anyone who they believed to be a terrorist. Well last I checked, our government operates under a system of checks and balances, so I do not see why we are taking a power out of the judicial branch of our government and giving it to the executive branch. This opens up the possibility that the executive branch may abuse this power for personal gain. Now I know the supporters of this bill claim that it is needed for national security. However, I don’t see this as the case at all. First off I want to clarify that I’m against terrorism as much as the next guy. I just simply believe that if there is enough evidence against someone to “indefinitely detain” someone, then they certainly would lose in a fair trial. Therefore we can still stop known terrorists without this act through the fair and legal judicial system that has been in place since our country began. Basically, all this bill does is allow the executive branch to detain someone without evidence. It is almost as if this act completely rids people the right to fair trial. Furthermore, our judicial system used to fairly operate under the idea of innocent until proven guilty. However, it almost appears like our government is trying to change this ideal to “guilty and indefinitely detained until we feel like giving you a fair trial.” There is next to no rational reason to pass this act, and I fervently hope that President Obama stops this act with a just veto.