New compromise "Patriot Act" is still a threat to civil liberties

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congress should reject the proposed anti-terrorist "Patriot Act" -- which would greatly expand the federal government's surveillance, wiretapping, and detention authority -- because no new police powers are needed to effectively fight terrorism, the Libertarian Party said today.

"There's no evidence that these new police powers will actually stop terrorists -- but there is a clear and present danger that they will curtail the fundamental civil liberties of Americans," said Steve Dasbach, the party's national director.

"That's why this bill should worry Americans more than it will worry terrorists. And that's why Congress should reject it."

The Patriot Act -- which will be considered by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday -- is the result of two weeks of closed-door negotiations between Congress and the Bush administration.

While the bipartisan compromise made some concessions to civil libertarian concerns, the bill:

* Gives any U.S. Attorney or state attorney general the power to install the Carnivore e-mail snooping system in "emergency situations" without obtaining a court order.

* Allows telephone voice mail messages to be obtained by law enforcement with a mere search warrant, which is issued with less court scrutiny than the previously required wiretap warrant.

* Expands the definition of "terrorist" so broadly that it could include non-violent protesters at an anti-war rally.

* Makes it easier for the government to tap multiple phones as part of a "roving wiretap" warrant.

* Allows the government to detain legal immigrants for seven days based on a mere accusation of terrorist activity.

On Saturday, President Bush urged Congress to approve the provisions in the Patriot Act, saying it gives law enforcement "every necessary tool" to fight terrorists.

But politicians made that promise before, noted Dasbach.

For example, in 1978, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which created secret federal courts to approve clandestine wiretaps of suspected spies and terrorists. In 1995, Congress expanded the FISA courts' authority to include searches of homes and computers.

During its first 21 years in operation, FISA courts authorized 11,950 secret searches and wiretaps -- while rejecting only one search warrant, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

In 1996, Congress passed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, which created courts with the power to deport foreigners based on secret evidence; gave the
Secretary of State the authority to arbitrarily designate groups as "terrorist;" and allowed the government to freeze the assets of
suspected terrorist groups.

In 1998, after the bombings of American embassies in Africa, Congress passed legislation that authorized "roving wiretaps" for the first time and increased the maximum "Counterterrorism Rewards Program" from $2 million to $5 million.

That same year, President Clinton also issued two Presidential Decision Directives: PDD-62, which established the office of the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-Terrorism, and PDD-63, which created the National Infrastructure Protection Center.

A senior FBI agent told Time magazine in 1998: "Any one of these extremely valuable tools could be the keystone" to successful operations against terrorists.

But none of those additional powers did a thing to stop terrorists from killing 6,000 Americans on September 11, noted Dasbach.

"That's why, instead of demanding ever-expanding powers, the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies should simply do their jobs -- by acting on credible warnings of terrorist attacks," he said. "If they had done so, 6,000 Americans might still be alive today."

According to a September 27 column by Robert D. Novak, Philippine police arrested several Islamic terrorists in 1995 and discovered plans to use commercial airliners to attack targets in America, including the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That information was passed on to the U.S. government.

In August 2001, a flight school in Minnesota contacted the FBI and warned agents about a "peculiar" Arab who wanted to take 747 flight simulator training to learn how to steer -- but not take off or land. The man was arrested for lack of a valid visa and detained for future deportation.

Wrote Novak: "No connection was made with the 1995 revelation. The FBI had advance indications of plans to hijack U.S. airliners and use them as weapons but neither acted on them nor distributed the intelligence to local police."

Based on those revelations, asked Dasbach, how can the FBI claim it needs expanded surveillance powers?

"The FBI doesn't need to read more e-mail, install roving wiretaps, redefine terrorism, or get any of the new powers in the Patriot Act," he said. "The FBI simply needs to rediscover the power of old-fashioned detective work -- and pay better attention when it gets warnings that terrorists plan to launch a deadly strike against Americans."