Patriot Act II – is it a prudent step to stem terrorist activity in the U.S. and protect the homeland, or a Draconian measure designed to strip the last vestiges of freedom from the American landscape?
Such is the question increasingly on the minds of Internet users, many of whom come down squarely on the side of legal experts who warn of the legislation’s danger. Though an actual bill to further expand federal law-enforcement powers has not been introduced, activists for months have communicated online about what they see as potential Nazi-like developments.
"…Though Patriot Act II has not been officially introduced in Congress, a Department of Justice draft version of the bill, named the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, was obtained in January 2003 by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative organization. The draft [a .pdf document] is marked “Confidential, not for distribution.” The document includes an analysis of the expanded powers and a draft of the bill itself.
Also in January 2003, the PBS program “Now with Bill Moyers” obtained a Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs “control sheet,” which suggested a draft of the bill was sent to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Vice President Richard Cheney.
"…Dr. David Cole, a Georgetown University Law professor, analyzed the draft and stated the proposal would “radically expand law enforcement and intelligence gathering authorities, reduce or eliminate judicial oversight over surveillance, authorize secret arrests, create a DNA database based on unchecked executive ‘suspicion,’ create new death penalties, and even seek to take American citizenship away from persons who belong to or support disfavored political groups.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has analyzed the draft of the bill and lists several new government powers it would establish. Those include:
Code:
* The removal of the requirement to disclose the identity of anyone who is charged in a terror-related investigation until that person is charged, regardless of how long it may take;
* Creating a new category of "domestic security surveillance" that permits electronic eavesdropping of entirely domestic activity under looser standards than are provided for ordinary criminal surveillance;
* Repealing the current court limits on local police spying on religious and political activity;
* The ability to obtain credit records and library records without a warrant;
* Expansion of the definition of terrorism whereby individuals engaged in civil disobedience could risk losing their citizenship, and their organization could be subject to wiretapping and asset seizure;
* Sheltering federal agents engaged in illegal surveillance without a court order from criminal prosecution if they are following orders of high Executive Branch officials;
* Americans could be extradited, searched and wiretapped at the behest of foreign nations, whether or not treaties allow it; and
- Lawful immigrants would be stripped of the right to a fair deportation hearing and federal courts would not be allowed to review immigration rulings.
The ACLU also points out the proposal would lessen the ability of the media to cover government activity by shutting down access to information about terrorism suspects who have not been charged, information about grand jury proceedings involving terror investigations, and public information about health and safety hazards of chemical and other plants.
Critics stress that Section 102 of the draft bill, which expands who it is the government can subject to surveillance, could also squelch press freedoms. Current law says a U.S. citizen gathering information for a foreign entity can be wiretapped, for example, only if there is a suspicion of a violation of the law. The new measure would remove the need for suspicion, thereby applying to citizens the current standard used with non-citizens.
“This amendment would permit electronic surveillance of a local activist who was preparing a report on human rights for London-based Amnesty International, a ‘foreign political organization,’ even if the activist was not engaged in any violation of law,” stated the ACLU.
While a provision in the original Patriot Act gave the Justice Department the power to look at public library records, criticism of the provision caused Attorney General John Ashcroft to back away from actually using the new privilege. The ACLU analysis touches on an expansion of the power, saying, “Patriot Act II would give the government new powers to issue ‘administrative subpoenas’ and to enforce what it calls ‘national security letters’ to obtain confidential library, Internet and bookstore records – without going to court at all.”
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