Nothing Patriotic About ItThe following appeared as a Guest Opinion in the Iowa City Press-Citizen
by David Leshtz
The U.S. Congress will soon act to reauthorize expiring sections of the Patriot Act, the law passed just days after 9/11. At the time, few Americans were aware of the unprecedented expansion of the federal government's secret search and surveillance powers.
A conference committee is about to meet to reconcile two competing bills in Congress. The bill passed by the Senate takes important steps to restore checks and balances in our democratic process. It would help the courts have the facts necessary to prevent secret investigations of law-abiding Americans based on their beliefs. In contrast, the House bill would do little to correct the threats to our civil liberties found in the hastily passed Patriot Act.
For example, under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the FBI can get an order from a secret court to collect personal information about American citizens without providing any facts linking us individually to a suspected foreign terrorist. This includes our medical records, hotel receipts, gun ownership records and the Web sites we visit.
The Senate bill, unlike the House bill, requires investigators to provide a statement of facts and some link between the person whose records are sought and a suspected terrorist. It gives businesses a more meaningful opportunity to challenge a records request, compared with the House bill. It also requires the FBI director to personally approve requests for library and bookstore records, medical histories and gun ownership records.
Reforms to Section 215 are especially necessary because the law contains a permanent gag order preventing the recipient from saying anything to anyone about the request for sensitive personal records.
The Patriot Act also allows for "sneak and peak" warrants, which allow investigators to get a court order to secretly search your home or business, download your computer files and seize your property without telling you for months or longer. Sneak and peak warrants are not limited to terrorism cases. The Justice Department recently admitted that since 9/11, 88 percent of sneak and peak searches conducted under this provision had nothing to do with terrorism.
The Senate bill limits to seven days the amount of time investigators can delay in telling you they searched your home or business. The House bill allows investigators to delay notification for six months, with extensions permitted.
As a member of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, I am deeply worried. History demonstrates that unchecked law enforcement powers inevitably are used against those who are in the minority. FBI agents monitored civil rights leaders like the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and thousands of other Americans before laws were reformed to try to protect citizens from being spied upon for exercising their First Amendment freedoms.
One way this protection was enforced was to require the government to show to a court specific facts warranting surveillance. The Patriot Act stripped away this requirement for searches of personal records.
Members of Congress from both parties are currently circulating "Dear Conferee" letters asking lawmakers on the conference committee to support the reforms in the Senate bill, rather than the House bill which makes the Patriot Act worse.
Liberty and security
Voters in the 2nd District who care about our freedoms should urge Rep. Jim Leach to sign the Dear Conferee letter and support the gains made for our liberty and security in the Senate bill. Our congressman's leadership could help repair a piece of legislation that affects us all.
The checks and balances in our Constitution were designed to ensure that our government does not infringe on our fundamental freedoms. The Patriot Act seriously weakened these structural protections. We need to act now if we are to correct its worst excesses.
David Leshtz, a resident of Iowa City, has served on the Iowa Civil Rights Commission since 1999.
(source)
