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AMP Report - March 1, 2010
USA PATRIOT Act extended through backdoor
On February 27, President Obama signed into law a one-year extension to provisions of the controversial USA Patriot Act that were set to expire on February 28. The extended provisions include those that: (1) Authorize a secret court to approve roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones. (2) Authorize a secret court to approve seizure of records and property in anti-terrorism operations. (3) Permit surveillance against "lone wolf" targets (a non-citizen suspected of being engaged in terrorism without being a part of a recognized terrorism group)
No amendments to restrict the government's ability to spy on Americans were passed.
Just three days before the USA PATRIOT Act was to expire, Congress used a backdoor method to camouflage the stripping away of civil liberties until after the 2010 election. The bill, HR 3961, was originally passed by the House last fall as the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act. While the Republocrats originally wanted to add the PATRIOT Act reauthorization to the so-called "jobs" bill, some dissent on the jobs portion by some Republicans and on the PATRIOT portion by some Democrats delayed the bill, so Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) had to resort to the backdoor amendment of HR 3961.
The Senate passed the amendment unanimously, and the House passed the bill 315-97 with 20 not voting. For those unaware, here are a few of the liberties we have lost:
Section 218 gives a secret court the ability to authorize secret searches, wiretaps of private conversations, and examine any financial transaction of Americans if there is a mere suspicion of foreign intelligence. Previously, police forces had to present a warrant and also describe what items they are searching for and why.
Section 213 of the PATRIOT Act not only authorizes the FBI to secretly break into your home, rummage through it, but does not even inform you that the government has committed this until 18 months have passed, and may suspend this notification indefinitely.
Sections 505 and 215 authorizes the government to secretly examine your private information provided it is somehow linked to terrorism. This includes searching the third-party holders of your financial, library, travel, video rental, phone, medical, or places of worship without your consent or even knowledge. Previously, the bare minimum for authorization would be from a grand jury or warrant served with probable cause.
Any financial transaction over $10,000 is reported to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a sub-branch of the Treasury Department, as possible criminal or terrorist activity per Section 365 before being processed.
Section 412 enables the government to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely and to suspend habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is the ability of those held to appear before a court and determine why they are being held and challenge whether their detention is lawful.
The Congress has failed to check the executive branch's assumption of powers to place "enemy combatants" in secret prisons and torture them.
On February 28, 2010, three provisions of the Patriot Act were set for sunset. This was an opportunity for the Congress to examine all of our surveillance laws and amend those that have been found unconstitutional or have been abused to collect information on innocent people, including last year's changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Attorney General Guidelines (AGGs).
Despite the many amendments to these laws since 9/11, congress and the public have yet to receive real information about how these powerful tools are being used to collect information on Americans and how that information is being used. All of these laws work together to create a surveillance superstructure and violate civil liberties.
The ACLU's recent report, Reclaiming Patriotism, provides more information on parts of the Patriot Act that need to be amended.
(1) 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. Government reports confirm that upwards of 50,000 of these secret record demands go out each year. In response to an ACLU lawsuit (Doe v. Holder), the Second Circuit Court of Appeal struck down as unconstitutional the part of the NSL law that gives the FBI the power to prohibit NSL recipients from telling anyone that the government has secretly requested customer Internet records.
(2) 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 September 11, this section criminalizes a wide array of activities, regardless of whether they actually or intentionally further terrorist goals or organizations. Federal courts have struck portions of the statute as unconstitutional and a number of cases have been dismissed or ended in mistrial.
(3) FISA Amendments Act of 2008. This past summer, Congress passed a law to permit the government to conduct warrantless and suspicion-less dragnet collection of U.S. residents' international telephone calls and e-mails. This too must be amended to provide meaningful privacy protections and judicial oversight of the government's intrusive surveillance power.
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