This pledge is about a change of direction. The Rights of the Accused have been attacked across the board for a long time. Indefinite detention, spying on citizens without a warrant, racial, ethnic, and religious profiling, targeting of whistle-blowers, killing American citizens SUSPECTED of committing a crime - however horrible - these have all become realities. Impersonal institutions are empowered at the expense of people.
This has been portrayed as a compromise to prevent terrorism, but more Americans die in car crashes every year than died from terrorism in 2001. This government, still, may be well meaning. Who's to say future iterations will be, however? These new policies are a powerful weapon. They are a weapon we don't need.