People who care about civil liberties in the United States should embrace, rather than fight, the USA Patriot Act, former Bush administration antiterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke told a standing-room-only audience at the John F. Kennedy School of Government on Wednesday.

"[I]f there's another major terrorist attack in this country ... hold onto that Bill of Rights, because it's going fast," Richard Clarke told a standing-room-only audience at the Kennedy School. (Staff photo Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard University News Office)

Though the Patriot Act's expansion of law enforcement powers has been assailed as an assault on civil liberties, Clarke said the act provides law enforcement tools that could prevent another major terrorist attack. And a second attack, if successful, is sure to prompt even harsher legislation.

"I would argue the thing that you should do today that most protects civil liberties in this country is to help prevent another major terrorist attack, because no matter how many of us send checks to the ACLU, if there's another major terrorist attack in this country ... hold onto that Bill of Rights, because it's going fast," Clarke said. "So be very, very careful about opposing things like the Patriot Act. If you believe in civil liberties, you've got to stop that next big attack."

Clarke, an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School and author of "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror," served as a senior White House adviser for four presidents, including a stint as national coordinator for security, infrastructure protection, and counter-terrorism from 1998-2002. Clarke was interviewed during Wednesday's event by Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Director Graham Allison in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.

Clarke said he believes if legislation similar to the Patriot Act had been passed before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, it may have helped prevent the tragedy.

"I can't find anything wrong with it and if I'd had it prior to 9/11 it would have been a hell of a lot easier to stop 9/11," Clarke said.

In answering questions from Allison and from the audience, Clarke said that President Bush's invasion of Iraq played right into al Qaeda's hands and drained resources from the war on terror, which he termed a "civil war within Islam." Clarke also said that he didn't believe Bush should apologize to Sept. 11 survivors and the families of victims if he doesn't feel he did anything wrong.