Whether it was anti-war protests or the civil rights movement, the late 1960s and early 1970s marked the beginning of the end for the status quo. Or so thought the newly elected mayor of Houston at the time, Fred Hofheinz.

And just days after taking office, he would learn something disturbing.

“We had a division in (the Houston Police Department) called CID which during that period, late 60s or early 70s, actually went out and spied on every political event in Houston,” recalled Hofheinz.

The Criminal Intelligence Division, the local Big Brother of its day was watching the mayor himself.

“The police department followed us around,” said Hofheinz. “My wife would identify them and offer them coffee.”

He wasn’t alone; the spying included first African American congresswoman from the south.

“They were attending, undercover, meetings of then U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. That was pretty offensive. Barbara Jordan was a great hero of mine,” said Hofheinz.

More than three decades after the fact, Hofheinz and others, worry the constitution is again under assault.

All in the name of national security in a post Sept. 11 world.

“They've attempted to set up a system where there's no checks and balances for the federal government,” said Hofheinz.

If you're asking yourself whether history will prove the patriot act patriotic, maybe it already has.

“You know the old Benjamin Franklin line about security and liberty?” said University of Houston History professor Bob Buzzanco. “If you sacrifice your liberty for security, you deserve neither.”