The USA Patriot Act presumes a false choice between liberty and security. Congress rushed to pass this 342-page piece of legislation in the immediate aftermath of September 11, and President George W. Bush signed it into law on October 26, 2001. The Patriot Act may constitute the greatest threat to our Bill of Rights since the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts.
Section 215 of the Patriot Act allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation to force third parties – including physicians, hospitals, libraries, bookstores, universities, internet service providers and others – to turn over individual records. The FBI no longer needs to show a reasonable suspicion, let alone probable cause, that the subject of the search is engaged in criminal activity or an agent of any foreign power, and judicial oversight is virtually eliminated. It is a criminal offense for a person or entity served with a Section 215 order to disclose that fact to anyone (including the person whose privacy has been compromised).
Other sections of the Patriot Act grant the executive branch of government unprecedented and essentially unchecked powers. It may, among other things, conduct nationwide roving wiretaps, obtain search warrants without limitation as to location or jurisdiction, track emails and internet usage, and dispense with the "knock and announce" principle in favor of "sneak and peek" searches. In addition, we have a new crime of "domestic terrorism," potentially transforming protestors into terrorists if they engage in activities that "involve acts dangerous to human life" intended to "influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion." The Central Intelligence Agency is back in the business of domestic spying. A secret court now considers requests for electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes. Further, the Act permits the Attorney General secretly and indefinitely to detain aliens if he "certifies" that they may endanger national security. If any other country enacted legislation like this, the United States would probably rush to the United Nations complaining about human rights violations.
The Patriot Act – fully misnamed "Unifying and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" – erodes long-established freedoms, affronting the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution. In the name of combating terrorism, it undermines the principles and liberties for which this country stands. In this context, it is significant that the report by the Senate and House intelligence committees blames failure to detect warning signs of 9/11, not on any lack of legal authority, but rather on lapses in competence and cooperation by the FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies. As Benjamin Franklin warned more than two centuries ago, "[t]hey that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
We can be both safe and free – oppose the Patriot Act!
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