Courage Can Restore Rights, O'Brian Says

Conscience and courage on the part of America's leaders can re-awaken a public sense of fair play and force a sensible revision of our security program, John Lord O'Brian '96 said last night in his concluding Godkin Lecture.

Speaking on "Security, Sanity, and Fair Play" before an audience of 300 people in Sanders, the veteran constitutional lawyer charged that "the chief responsibility for aberrations in our security procedures rests in our highest leaders. If and when they become aware of their responsibilities," he said, "the public will respond to their leadership promptly and powerfully."

The issues of loyalty and security, according to O'Brian, have been seized by unscrupulous politicians and used as political weapons. "But when courageous and outspoken leaders appear, a sense of fair play will assert its power among our people," he continued.

"Our gravest fault," according to O'Brian, "is a failure to appraise more accurately the extent of our danger and to test measures of security against the yardstick of traditional guarantees of freedom. The answer to the problem," he added, "is a drastic revision of our security program by men soundly educated in the history of freedom."

O'Brian saw expediency as the constant enemy of freedom and as the guiding principle of our security system, overshadowing regard for constitutional rights. "Freedom to differ is not to be limited to things that do not matter much," he said, quoting the words of the late Justice Robert Jackson, who was originally scheduled to deliver this year's Godkin Lectures.

Program Promotes Suspicion

Citing what he termed a "curious paradox," O'Brian said that the government's security program "instead of promoting a sense of security among our citizens has spread doubt, suspicion, and mistrust and a sense of insecurity among those in government service."