No Sunset for Sweeping PATRIOT Act Powers?

The USA PATRIOT Act, rushed into law by a panicky U.S. Congress in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, gave the government broad surveillance powers to spy on innocent citizens. But it also stipulated that three of its more controversial provisions should expire next month unless reapproved by lawmakers.

And it appears that reapproval may be about to happen – evidently with a green light from the Barack Obama administration and over strong objections from human rights and civil liberties groups.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the USA PATRIOT Act Extension Act of 2009. The bill makes only minor changes to the original PATRIOT Act and was further watered down by amendments adopted during the committee’s deliberations.

"The Senate Judiciary Committee had the opportunity to pass legislation to rein in a bill that has become a symbol of out-of-control government invasions of your privacy. They failed — approving a bill that does little to curtail the sweeping powers embedded in the PATRIOT Act," said the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The committee’s actions were driven by "short-term and political considerations," Chip Pitts, president of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, told IPS.

The Judiciary Committee ignored "the need for a more sensible long-term, reasoned, rule-of-law approach," he said.

Now, civil libertarians are looking to the House of Representatives, where that body’s Judiciary Committee has already begun to consider the measure. Both chambers must produce versions of the legislation, after which differences will be reconciled by a bicameral conference committee.

A number of parts of the law are due to expire at the end of next month. These are:

Section 213, which expands the government’s ability to execute criminal search warrants — which need not involve terrorism — and seize property without telling the target for weeks or months.

The so-called "lone wolf" provision, which allows the government to wiretap any suspect believed to be involved in terrorism, even if that person has no connection to any known terrorist organization.

Section 215, which allows the FBI to seize a vast array of sensitive personal information and belongings – including medical, library and business records – using secret intelligence tools that do not require individual criminal activity.

Although the records can only be seized pursuant to a court order, judges are compelled to issue these orders, making such judicial review nothing more than a rubber stamp.

Section 505, which lowers the evidentiary standard for "national security letters," or NSLs, which are issued at the sole discretion of the Justice Department, impose a blanket gag order on recipients and are not subject to judicial review.

NSLs can be used to seize a wide variety of business and financial records, and in certain instances could be used to access the membership lists of organizations that provide even very limited Internet services — message boards on the ACLU’s website, for instance.

The "roving wiretap" provision, which allows the government to tap phones and other electronic devices used by any person suspected of involvement in terrorism; a roving wiretap follows the target of the surveillance from telephone to telephone.

Because there is a greater potential for abuse using roving wiretaps compared to traditional wiretaps, which apply to a single telephone, Congress insisted on important privacy safeguards when, prior to the PATRIOT Act, it first approved this "updated" surveillance power for criminal investigations.

http://original.antiwar.com/fisher/2009/11/04/no-sunset-for-...