The scariest part of Robert De Niro’s Zero Day wasn’t the cyberattack, the widespread government conspiracy, or even the advanced neurological weapon, but the Zero Day Commission itself. Zero Day had many different causes for concern, but one rose above the rest. From the neurological weapon Proteus in Zero Day to the actual cyberattack itself and Zero Day‘s widespread government conspiracy, the political thriller imagined several different scary possibilities. None of those, however, scared me the most out of the entire show: that honor goes to the Zero Day Commission itself.

In Zero Day, George Mullen (De Niro) was appointe to head the Zero Day Commission to find the group responsible for a widespread cyberattack on U.S. soil. Mullen was given almost unlimited resources to find the attackers, and most of the cast of Zero Day were there to support him in one way or another. In addition to its resources, the Zero Day Commission also had some unprecedented and truly horrifying powers granted to it by Congress. In trying to stop a massive threat to American democracy, the Zero Day Commission became an even bigger threat.

What Powers The U.S. Government Bestowed On The Zero Day Commission

The Zero Day Commission Could Suspend Habeas Corpus, Violate The Fourth Amendment, & More

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When President Mitchell (Angela Bassett) first told Mullen about the Zero Day Commission, she listed off some of the truly harrowing powers Congress had granted it. According to Mitchell, the Zero Day Commission had powers of surveillance, powers of unwarranted search and seizure, and the ability to suspend habeas corpus, which is the right to be presented to a court or judge upon arrest. In reality, Mullen and the Zero Day Commission took their powers even further, and even went as far as to torture Evan Green (Dan Stevens) in Zero Day during an interrogation.

Has This Happened In Real Life?

Abraham Lincoln Suspended Habeas Corpus, But The Patriot Act Is The Closest Real-World Parallel To Zero Day

Unfortunately, the massive constitutional violations shown in Zero Day aren’t completely unprecedented, but their scale is. For example, Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the American Civil War, though that was mostly due to the war effort and the need to take Confederate prisoners of war, whom Lincoln still considered to be United States citizens (via University of Michigan). Likewise, the Patriot Act, passed after 9/11, authorized widespread surveillance of U.S. citizens, which is dubiously constitutional at best.

One of the most egregious real-world examples of something that happened in Zero Day is the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. Since George W. Bush’s administration, the U.S. government has provably detained and tortured foreign nationals suspected of being terrorists and enemies of the United States (via Center for Constitutional Rights). Even Guantánamo Bay, however, allegedly didn’t torture U.S. citizens, which the Zero Day Commission very notably does in Zero Day. The only solace is that Zero Day‘s constitutional infringements haven’t been fully realized in real life – yet.

Why The Zero Day Commission’s Powers Are The Scariest Part Of The Show

Cyberattacks Are Deadly, But An Unchecked, All-Powerful Governmental Body Is Tyrannical

Even though Zero Day highlighted the vulnerabilities of America’s cybersecurity and included a terrifying neurological weapon developed by the NSA, the Zero Day Commission is still the scariest part of the show. The fact that the U.S. government could create, fund, and operationalize a commission with the power to tear the Constitution to shreds in a matter of days is horrifying. After one major attack, every protection of civil liberty and defense against a tyrannical government that the founders of the nation baked into the American Experiment was in peril, and the Zero Day Commission effectively turned the U.S. into a fascist autocracy.

Zero Day presents a harrowing view of just how easily American democracy could collapse, which is a much more frightening truth to face than any fictional cyberattack or neurological weapon.

While there was a regulatory oversight committee put together to check on the Zero Day Commission, it was completely ineffectual. If anyone other than George Mullen had been appointed to head the Zero Day Commission, it could easily have swallowed the United States whole and replaced the nation’s representative democracy with a dictatorship. In that way, Zero Day presents a harrowing view of just how easily American democracy could collapse when the wrong people are given too much power, a much more frightening truth to face than any fictional cyberattack or neurological weapon. I, for one, hope and pray nothing like Zero Day ever comes to pass.