Graham: 'If I Thought Censoring the Mail Was Necessary, I Would Suggest It'

On Tuesday, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) explained that he would censor Americans’ mail if the war on terror required it. “In World War II, the mentality of the public was that our whole way of life was at risk, we’re all in,” he said. “We censored the mail. When you wrote a letter overseas, it got censored. When a letter was written back from the battlefield to home, they looked at what was in the letter to make sure they were not tipping off the enemy. If I thought censoring the mail was necessary, I would suggest it, but I don’t think it is.”

Graham has been fighting on behalf of NSA surveillance of American phone records and digital communications data. He added, “The First Amendment right to speak is sacrosanct, but it has limits …. We don’t need to censor the mail, but we do need to find out what the enemy’s up to.”

Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).