There's a lesson from overseas on this. After Germany reunited, the various Federal agencies "knew" that former terrorists (Red Army Faction/Baader-Meinhof Gang and others) had been honored citizens of the East German regime. However, it was going to take extensive data mining in records to find them.
Very aware of what took place under the Third Reich, there was a lot of very heated debate on this but eventually, a bill that authorized the search methods passed, but with a time limit*. They got the vast majority of the wanted terrorists, but the Bundestag refused to extend the law to get the rest.
This involved serious crimes, not speculative "pre crime". I do believe there's a message here if we're bright enough to heed it.
*They may also have been limited in their targets for investigation.
Very aware of what took place under the Third Reich, there was a lot of very heated debate on this but eventually, a bill that authorized the search methods passed, but with a time limit*. They got the vast majority of the wanted terrorists, but the Bundestag refused to extend the law to get the rest.
This involved serious crimes, not speculative "pre crime". I do believe there's a message here if we're bright enough to heed it.
*They may also have been limited in their targets for investigation.
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