[Peace-discuss] Once more into the tank

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Obama Quietly Backs PATRIOT Act Provisions
	by William Fisher, November 24, 2009

With the health care debate preoccupying the mainstream media, it has gone 
virtually unreported that the Barack Obama administration is quietly supporting 
renewal of provisions of the George W. Bush-era USA PATRIOT Act that civil 
libertarians say infringe on basic freedoms.

And it is reportedly doing so over the objections of some prominent Democrats.

When a panicky Congress passed the act 45 days after the terrorist attacks of 
Sept. 11, 2001, three contentious parts of the law were scheduled to expire at 
the end of next month, and opponents of these sections have been pushing 
Congress to substitute new provisions with substantially strengthened civil 
liberties protections.

But with the apparent approval of the Obama White House and a number of 
Republicans – and over the objections of liberal Senate Democrats including Russ 
Feingold of Wisconsin and Dick Durbin of Illinois – the Senate Judiciary 
Committee has voted to extend the three provisions with only minor changes.

Those provisions would leave unaltered the power of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (FBI) to seize records and to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mail 
in the course of counterterrorism investigations.

The parts of the act due to expire on Dec. 31 deal with:

National Security Letters (NSLs)

The FBI uses NSLs to compel Internet service providers, libraries, banks, and 
credit reporting companies to turn over sensitive information about their 
customers and patrons. Using this data, the government can compile vast dossiers 
about innocent people.

The "Material Support" Statute

This provision criminalizes providing "material support" to terrorists, defined 
as providing any tangible or intangible good, service, or advice to a terrorist 
or designated group. As amended by the PATRIOT Act and other laws since Sept. 
11, this section criminalizes a wide array of activities, regardless of whether 
they actually or intentionally further terrorist goals or organizations.

FISA Amendments Act of 2008

This past summer, Congress passed a law that permits the government to conduct 
warrantless and suspicion-less dragnet collection of U.S. residents’ 
international telephone calls and e-mails.

Asked by IPS why committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and other 
Democrats chose to make only minor changes, Chip Pitts, president of the Bill of 
Rights Defense Committee, referred to "the secret and hypocritical lobbying by 
the Obama administration against reforms – while publicly stating receptiveness 
to them." White House pressure, he speculated, "was undoubtedly a huge if 
lamentable factor."

He added that some committee members were cautious because of the recent arrests 
of Najibullah Zazi and others.

Zazi , a citizen of Afghanistan and a legal U.S. resident, was arrested in 
September as part of a group accused of planning to carry out acts of terrorism 
against the U.S. Zazi is said by the FBI to have attended courses and received 
instruction on weapons and explosives at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan.

Leahy acknowledged that, in light of these incidents, "This is no time to weaken 
or undermine the tools that law enforcement relies on to protect America."

Pitts told IPS, "Short-term and political considerations driven by dramatic 
events once again dramatically affected the need for a more sensible long-term, 
reasoned, rule-of-law approach."

"In the eight years since passage of the original PATRIOT Act, it’s become clear 
that the escalating political competition to appear tough on terror – and avoid 
being accused of being ’soft on terror’ – brings perceived electoral benefits 
with few costs, with vital but fragile civil liberties being easily sacrificed," 
he added.

In contrast to the Senate, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee 
approved a version of the legislation containing several significant reforms. In 
a 16-10 party-line vote, the committee’s version curbs some of the government’s 
controversial surveillance powers.

The PATRIOT Act, passed by a landslide after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to 
provide law enforcement and intelligence agencies additional powers to thwart 
terrorist activities, was reauthorized in 2005.

The legislation has been criticized by many from across the ideological spectrum 
as a threat to civil liberties, privacy, and democratic traditions. Sections of 
the original act have been ruled unconstitutional, with certain provisions 
violating protected rights.

Judiciary Chair John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, said the goal of the new 
legislation was to "craft a law that preserves both our national security and 
our national values."

The proposed new legislation would permit the so-called "lone wolf" provision to 
sunset. This authority removed the requirement that an individual needed to be 
an agent of a foreign power to be placed under surveillance by intelligence 
officials and permitted surveillance of individuals with a much lower 
evidentiary threshold than allowed under criminal surveillance procedures.

It was intended to allow the surveillance of individuals believed to be doing 
the bidding of foreign governments or terrorist organizations, even when the 
evidence of that connection was lacking.

The Justice Department maintains that the "lone wolf" authority is necessary, 
even though there is no evidence that it has been used. Its opponents believe 
that existing authorities are sufficient to achieve the goals of the lone wolf 
provision while more effectively protecting the rights of innocent citizens.

The proposed new House legislation would also restrict the use of national 
security letters. According to a Congressional Research Service report, 
"National security letters (NSL) are roughly comparable to administrative 
subpoenas. Intelligence agencies issue them for intelligence gathering purposes 
to telephone companies, Internet service providers, consumer credit reporting 
agencies, banks, and other financial institutions, directing the recipients to 
turn over certain customer records and similar information."

Under current law, intelligence agencies have few restrictions on the use of 
NSLs, and in numerous cases, have abused the authority. An FBI inspector general 
report in 2007 "found that the FBI used NSLs in violation of applicable NSL 
statutes, Attorney General Guidelines, and internal FBI policies." The reform 
provisions seek to create greater judicial scrutiny of NSL use.

The bill approved in the Senate contains much more modest reforms. It would 
retain the lone wolf provision, and is, in general, much more in line with the 
wishes of the administration. Should both bills pass and go into conference to 
be reconciled, it is unclear which approach would prevail.

House and Senate versions still need to be voted on by each body separately and 
then reconciled into a single bill to send to the president for signature.

Pitts told IPS, "President Obama’s flip-flop on PATRIOT Act issues does as much 
damage as did his flip-flop on the FISA Amendments Act and telecom immunity last 
year. But it’s imperative that we fight, while we still can, to comprehensively 
reinsert requirements for fact-based, individualized suspicion, checks and 
balances, and meaningful judicial review prior to government intrusions."

In a report on the PATRIOT Act, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said, 
"More than seven years after its implementation there is little evidence that 
the PATRIOT Act has been effective in making America more secure from 
terrorists. However, there are many unfortunate examples that the government 
abused these authorities in ways that both violate the rights of innocent people 
and squander precious security resources."

(Inter Press Service)