Director of FBI Urges Renewal of Patriot Act Portions of Law to Expire This Year
By Carrie Johnson Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, March 26, 2009; A08 FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III urged lawmakers yesterday to renew intelligence-gathering measures in the USA Patriot Act that are set to expire in December, calling them "exceptional" tools to help protect national security. The law, passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, created divisions between proponents, who said it was necessary to deter terrorism, and privacy advocates warning that it tramples on Americans' civil liberties. Portions of the law are up for reauthorization this year. Mueller told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee he hopes that the reauthorization of two provisions would be far less controversial than in previous years. One of those provisions, which helps authorities secure access to business records, "has been exceptionally helpful in our national security investigations," he said. In response to a question from Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), Mueller said that his agents had used the provision about 220 times between 2004 and 2007. Data for last year were not yet available, he said. The measure allows investigators probing terrorism to seek a suspect's records from third parties such as financial services and travel and telephone companies without notifying the suspect. The American Civil Liberties Union has criticized the provision, saying it violates the First Amendment rights of U.S. citizens. Another provision, permitting roving wiretaps of terrorism suspects, was used 147 times and has helped eliminate "an awful lot of paperwork," Mueller said. In the past, authorities had to seek court approval for each electronic device carried by a suspect, from a cellphone and a BlackBerry to a home computer. But under the provision, one warrant can cover all of those machines. The ACLU issued a report this month describing "widespread abuse" of government authority under the Patriot Act. "The Patriot Act has been disastrous for Americans' rights," said Caroline Frederickson, the director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office. "Congress should use this year's Patriot Act reauthorization as an opportunity to reexamine all of our surveillance laws." Agents' use of the Patriot Act and other sensitive investigative tools has been a source of friction between FBI officials and Democratic lawmakers. Mueller said he has not had a chance to meet with new Justice Department or White House officials regarding their views on the Patriot Act. But at the Senate confirmation hearing for Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in January, Mueller expressed at least moderate support for renewing the provisions that will sunset in December. David Kris, an expert on intelligence laws, won unanimous Senate confirmation yesterday as the new leader of the Justice Department's National Security Division. He will play an important role in the Patriot Act reauthorization and in supervising the FBI's national security operations. "It is important that [Congress] examine more specifics," Cardin told the FBI director. "We want to make sure you have the tools that you need and that you have appropriate oversight. There may need to be modifications . . . a fine-tuning of these provisions to make sure they are effective and used as intended by Congress." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/25/AR2009032501862_pf.html ===== Neo-Cons Want Patriot Act Extended 24 GOP members of Congress approve of legislation extending worst aspects of reviled Patriot Acts REPUBLICAN MEMBERS in Congress introduced legislation in early March to reauthorize some of the most controversial portions of the misnamed Patriot Act, which are set to expire this year. Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), John Boehner (Ohio), Mike Pence (Ind.), Lamar Smith (Tex.) and 20 other neo-conservative congressmen signed onto the Safe and Secure America Act of 2009, which seeks to extend for an additional 10 years provisions that allow federal authorities to conduct warrantless surveillance, to access library patron information and to bypass privacy protections in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “The Patriot Act is a part of helping to keep America safe,” Boehner told reporters during a press conference on March 12, “and we’ve got to do everything we can in this time of economic crisis to protect our citizens from those who’d want to harm us.” When the Patriot Act was first passed by Congress one month after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, privacy groups objected to the freedom-robbing measure. At the time, legislators claimed that the bill would only be temporary following 9-11. Eight years later, the most troubling portions of the legislation are still law even though the provisions were set to expire at the end of 2005. That year, Congress hastily passed legislation which kept the measures in full force. There has been much debate over the Patriot Act’s effectiveness other than sending the country further down the slippery slope of a police state. The FBI’s own inspector general found that federal law enforcement regularly applied the new law for the purpose of prosecuting other criminal activity that was outside the intent of the original legislation. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently issued a report which details how federal agents abused provisions in the Patriot Act, applying them to cases not related to terrorism. In addition, the ACLU found that the Patriot Act has had little tangible effect on the prosecution of terrorist suspects. The government claims it has prosecuted 400 terrorist cases in seven years as a result of the Patriot Act, but the truth, according to the ACLU, is that only 39 of these resulted in actual convictions for terrorism. In addition, “the median sentence for these crimes was 11 months, which indicates the crime the government equated with terrorism was not serious,” reported the ACLU. “More than seven years after its implementation, there is little evidence to demonstrate that the Patriot Act has made America more secure from terrorists,” said the ACLU’s report. “The Patriot Act vastly—and unconstitutionally—expanded the government’s authority to pry into people’s private lives with little or no evidence of wrongdoing.” (Issue # 13, March 30, 2009) http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/patriot_act_extended_172.html
