Napolitano speaks on liberties

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Apr. 14--U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday at the University of Virginia that her department is incorporating civil liberties and privacy protections at the outset of its efforts to protect the country from terrorism, rather than shoehorning them in after the fact.

"If Mr. Jefferson had to deal with this kind of issue today, I think he'd be doing the same thing," Napolitano said. "I hope."

Following the attempting bombing of a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day, the Department of Homeland Security accelerated plans to deploy more "whole body scanners" at airports, a move that some say is too intrusive because the scanned images leave little to the imagination. Napolitano, however, said the scanners are objectively better at identifying weapons and bombs and therefore ought to be installed in more airports.

"You're constantly making those kinds of judgments," said Napolitano, a 1983 graduate of UVa's School of Law.

UVa and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation on Tuesday awarded Napolitano with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law as part of the university's Founder's Day celebration. Harvard University naturalist, ethicist, entomologist and author Edward O. Wilson received the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture. And Joseph Neubauer, chairman and CEO of Aramark, received the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Citizen Leadership.

In remarks at UVa's law school, Napolitano declined to answer a question about reports that she is on President Barack Obama's short list to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court. "In all fairness, I probably ought not to respond to those questions," she said. "The timing's just not apt."

Napolitano touts immigration priorities

One subject that Napolitano was willing to discuss was immigration reform, a topic that remains among Obama's domestic agenda priorities.

The Obama administration, she said, has stepped up deportations of illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes. "We are focused on removing those who have committed serious felonies and those who are felony fugitives who have been apprehended," she said. "The numbers of these felony removals are way up significantly in the last two years over the previous administration.

The administration of George W. Bush, she added, focused much of its anti-illegal immigration efforts on raiding workplaces and arresting anyone in the country illegally. The Obama administration, she said, is focusing more on auditing employers and prosecuting those who hire illegal immigrants. The Obama administration, she said, will be asking Congress to increase penalties and strengthen the law against employing workers who are undocumented.

Better laws are also needed to deal with cybersecurity threats, Napolitano said.

"It's an area where we're in our infancy in any kind of understanding of the legal paradigm," she said. "This is an area where the law needs to move much more quickly."

Tougher laws are not needed, she said, to address the intensifying level of angry political speech across the country.

"Throughout our country's history, we have gone through periods of exacerbated and intense and heated rhetoric," she said. "We've always had it. We may not like it. But we've always managed our way through it."

It crosses the line, she said, when ultraheated rhetoric becomes politically motivated violence or threats. But law enforcement officers have the existing authority and experience necessary to make the judgment call when that line is crossed, she said.

'Help the next generation'

Wilson, the recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture, is the author or co-author of more than 20 books, including the 1979 Pulitzer Prize-winning "On Human Nature" and the 1991 Pulitzer winner "The Ants." His latest book, "Anthill: A Novel," is his first foray into fiction.

Wilson is best known for developing and popularizing the fields of sociobiology and biodiversity. He is a proponent of the concept of "biophilia," which says humans co-evolved with other species and therefore need direct contact with nature to thrive.

Neubauer, the CEO of Aramark -- a hospitality, food service and uniform giant, with operations at UVa -- spoke Tuesday morning on the West Lawn of Monticello.

The child of Holocaust refugees, Neubauer immigrated to the United States from Israel at the age of 14.

He came to America, he said, in large part for the chance to attend college. He eventually attended Tufts University, waiting tables to pay for his tuition. After graduating, he won a scholarship to study business at the University of Chicago.

In 1966, he became a naturalized American citizen.

"The best expression of my gratitude," he said, "would be to reach out and help the next generation in line."

Now -- having worked his way to the top of a company that employs 255,000 people and has $12.3 billion in total annual sales -- Neubauer wants to ensure that other U.S. immigrants have similar opportunities.

Congress should do more, he said, to offer visas and eventually citizenship to entrepreneurs who are opening businesses and creating jobs in the United States.