October 4, 2001: The latest update on the Anti-Terrorism Bill

Dear Friends,

On October 3, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved "compromise" anti-terrorism legislation. Notwithstanding the significant improvements in the legislation, the bill still fails to adequately protect some of our most precious freedoms.

Specifically, the bill -- the "Provide Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (PATRIOT)" (H.R. 2975) -- continues to contain troubling provisions that would minimize judicial supervision of electronic surveillance by law enforcement authorities and allow intelligence agencies to spy on U.S. citizens by providing them enhanced access to sensitive information about them.

The Judiciary Committee failed to adopt amendments that would have restored judicial supervision to electronic surveillance and limit the information about U.S. citizens that winds up in the hands of the Central Intelligence Agency. Under the legislation, for example, wiretaps authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act can be used as a "backdoor" way around Constitutional requirements.

In terms of further legislative activity, it is unlikely that we'll see floor action in either the House and Senate this week; the earliest both chambers will probably act is on Tuesday.

It is vitally important, however, that we continue to keep the pressure on both chambers because we still believe it is possible to get further modest fixes and we're deeply concerned that the bill could in fact get worse during floor debate. Please contact Senators Frist and Thompson and your congressperson now and share your concerns so we can ensure both a safe and free society.

As always, thank you.

Talking Points:

The government must not be given expanded wiretap authority without close judicial oversight. The wiretapping proposals in the PATRIOT Act sound a common theme: they minimize the role of a judge in ensuring that law enforcement wiretapping is conducted legally and with proper justification. Law enforcement authorities -- even when they are required to obtain court orders – have great leeway under current law to investigate suspects in terrorist attacks. Security and civil liberties do not have to be at odds so long as the checks and balances that have made our democracy strong remain in place.

Intelligence agencies must not be given broad access to sensitive information about US citizens and residents. While sharing of sensitive or confidential information may be appropriate in the case of international terrorism investigations, it should only be done with strict safeguards. The PATRIOT act would allow intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, to obtain information about US citizens and residents without imposing meaningful limits on the future use or dissemination of that information. Without such limitations, these agencies would be put back in the business of spying on Americans for "intelligence" purposes, as was done during the Vietnam War.