That's an Orwellian statement. I understand about Muslims, though, and think their pseudo-religion is really a political cult, which is plotting against us, but the nature of the statement makes me wonder what is the point of liberty if it can be so easily sacrificed? In other words, who gets to decide when government gets to invoke "the sake of national security"?
Indeed. "National security" is not the root passphrase to the U.S. Constitution. The burden on the government should be fairly high if they want to keep something secret. That's not the way a police state works though.