| Author | Message | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 7:19 am Post subject: Senate Panel Votes to Widen USA Patriot Act |
| Senate Panel Votes to Widen Antiterror Law
June 8, 2005
Senate Panel Votes to Widen Antiterror Law
By ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON, June 7 - The Federal Bureau of Investigation would gain the right to demand a variety of records in terror cases without a judge's approval, under an expanded version of the law known as the USA Patriot Act that the Senate intelligence committee approved late Tuesday after a closed-door debate.
The measure still needs to be considered by at least one more committee before moving to a full Senate vote, and it must be acted on in the House as well.
Civil liberties groups are already protesting the proposal to expand provisions in the antiterrorism law, adopted after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Lisa Graves, a senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, said, "It is the wrong step in the wrong direction to give the F.B.I. unfettered power to obtain records about people's health, their wealth and the transactions of their daily life without evidence of criminal wrongdoing."
The measure would make permanent eight provisions of the Patriot Act, which was to expire this year.
The measure would also expand the government's investigative powers by allowing the F.B.I., without a judge's approval, to demand that companies turn over records related to terrorism suspects.
Investigators can obtain business records only if they believe the material they are seeking is relevant to a foreign intelligence investigation. The revised legislation would allow individuals from companies served with such an order to challenge it.
A separate provision would allow investigators, while looking into foreign-based terrorists suspects, to obtain orders for wiretaps, searches and records even if the only purpose for obtaining the information was to pursue a criminal prosecution. Under the current law, such privileges are generally granted only if the information is related to a foreign intelligence investigation.
Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, a West Virginia Democrat who is the vice chairman of the committee, voted for the legislation, saying that the Patriot Act powers are critical tools in the fight against terrorism.
But he said in a statement issued Tuesday evening that he objected to some of the proposed expansions of investigative powers and would continue to work to try to revise the bill.
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CAIR ACTION ALERT #458
CALL CONGRESS TODAY TO URGE CHANGES IN PATRIOT ACT
Ask your elected representatives to support the SAFE Act
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/8/05) - CAIR today called on all people of conscience to urge their elected officials to support commonsense changes to the USA Patriot Act that would protect both national security and civil liberties. Sixteen provisions of the act are slated to expire at the end of this year and Congress is already considering modifications.
Some elected officials want to increase police powers while at same time reducing accountability. Yesterday, the Senate Intelligence Committee meeting in closed session approved a Patriot Act revision that would permit the FBI to subpoena personal records without the approval of a judge or grand jury.
SEE: "Senate Panel Votes to Widen Antiterror Law"
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/08patriot.html
"These administrative subpoenas are an end-run around long-standing due process procedures and threaten every American's right to privacy," said CAIR Governmental Affairs Director Corey Saylor.
CAIR and other civil liberties groups are calling on Congress to enact the following measures:
* Conduct all Patriot Act reauthorization hearings in public.
* Pass the Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act of 2005 (H.R. 1526 and S. 737) and the Protection of Civil Liberties Act (H.R. 1310) SEE: http://thomas.loc.gov/
* Set any renewed provision to sunset again in 2007. Section 213, which does not sunset, should be modified to sunset in 2007. This ensures that measures undertaken in times of great need do not endure longer than necessary.
Two of the Patriot Act's provisions in particular raise major civil liberties concerns.
* Section 215 allows law enforcement to acquire a search warrant for "any tangible thing." This can include: library records, medical records, and travel records. Additionally, it places a gag order on the person who must turn over records. Under this provision, a librarian could not tell his or her lawyer that they had to turn over someone's library records.
* Section 213 replaces traditional "knock and announce" search warrants with "sneak and peek." searches, delaying of notice of the execution of a search warrant for a "reasonable time." This can mean never informing the subject of the warrant that their possessions were searched. In substantive cases involving international or domestic terrorism, investigations conducted in secret are reasonable. However, Section 213, as written, is not limited to terror cases. It can be applied to any federal investigation, such as an examination of delinquent student loans.
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS REQUESTED:
1) Contact your elected representatives in Congress and ask them to support both national security and civil liberties when considering revisions to the Patriot Act. GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7694791
2) Urge your friends and family to visit the above link and put their faith into action. (You will automatically be asked to do this after you send your message from the above site.)
3) You may also call your representatives through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. (Have your ZIP Code ready.)
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URL: http://www.cair-net.org | |  | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 11:09 pm Post subject: Bush Presses Congress to Renew Patriot Act |
| Bush Presses Congress to Renew Patriot Act
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
22 minutes ago
President Bush, facing efforts by some in his own party to scale back the post-Sept. 11 Patriot Act, says it has made America safer and should be made permanent.
"The Patriot Act closed dangerous gaps in America's law enforcement and intelligence capabilities, gaps the terrorists exploited when they attacked us on September the 11th," Bush said.
Lawmakers responded to the 2001 attacks by overwhelmingly approving the law 45 days later. It allowed expanded surveillance of terror suspects, increased use of material witness warrants to hold suspects incommunicado and permitted secret proceedings in immigration cases.
Now, more than a dozen provisions are set to expire. Those provisions, among other things, provide authority for nationwide search warrants, enable the FBI and intelligence agencies to share information about terrorism cases and gave the FBI the power to obtain records in terrorism-related cases from entities such as libraries.
During Bush' 2004 re-election campaign, he made preserving the law a common refrain, but he has rarely spoken of it since. His renewed focus came as Congress has begun working on the act's renewal amid fresh criticisms — from members of both parties — that it undermines basic freedoms.
Bush pressured Congress to make the expiring provisions permanent. His administration also is seeking greater powers for the FBI to subpoena records in terrorism investigations without the approval of a judge or grand jury.
"My message to Congress is clear: Terrorist threats against us will not expire at the end of the year and neither should the protections of the Patriot Act," Bush told more than 100 law enforcement officers.
The president credited the law with helping to bring federal charges against more than 400 suspects — more than half of whom have been convicted — and to break up terror cells in New York, Oregon, Virginia and Florida.
He spoke at the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy to highlight the case of a Columbus man, Iyman Faris, who was accused of plotting attacks on a New York bridge and a Midwest shopping mall but was tracked down with the help of the Patriot Act.
Bush said Faris met Osama bin Laden in 2000 at an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan. Later, he received instructions from top terror leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. Now, because of the Patriot Act, Bush said, Faris has provided information about al-Qaida and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee approved revisions to the law that would give the FBI the expanded administrative subpoena powers the Bush administration has been seeking.
But much of the debate in Congress so far has focused on possible limits to the law.
Sens. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., want to tighten standards for the law's so-called "sneak and peek" warrants issued without immediate notification of the target and for "roving" wiretaps, and to exempt libraries from provisions that allow FBI expanded access to records.
The administration has warned that the Craig-Durbin bill would draw a Bush veto. The president did not repeat that threat, but he singled out the roving wiretap as an "especially important" tool that has been used successfully for years against drug dealers and others.
Bush also sought to defend the law by citing Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., who said she has looked into the administration's use of the Patriot Act and found no abuses.
"Remember that the next time you hear someone make an unfair criticism of this important, good law," Bush said.
Lisa Graves, the ACLU's senior counsel for legislative strategy, said the lack of a documented case of abuse doesn't mean the law doesn't violate civil liberties. She said the Justice Department's inspector general reported that 7,000 people have complained of abuse and countless others don't even know they've been subjected to a search because the law requires that they be kept secret.
The ACLU wants the government to show evidence of a connection to terrorist activity before being allowed to search records.
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