Everybody is (quite reasonably, IMO) worried about the USA PATRIOT Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usa_patriot_act) being abused. But, so far as I’ve been able to determine, it’s all purely speculative at this point. E.g., there has been no revival of the climate of the '60s when the FBI had COINTELPRO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cointelpro) to spy on anti-war and civil-rights groups, disrupt their activities, and insert agents provocateur.
Am I wrong? Can anyone point to anything the government has done with expanded powers since 9/11/01, that you think is an abuse of power, and that could not have been done if the PATRIOT Act had not been enacted?
Bump (I want to see if anyone has any…I can only think of some minor things myself. Hope ‘bumping’ is allowed…I forget, been a while since I read the rules).
Isn’t a large part of the problem with the act the fact that the feared abuses could be happening on a daily basis, and we’d not know about it? I’m thinking of the “sneak and peek” type searches, for instance.
I will have to go for the old fashion dictum of “follow the money”
IIRC several hundred millions of dollars have already gone to enhance the FBI snooping and funding of controversial warrants and probing around libraries.
The abuse IMHO comes on the lack of accountability, like what do we have to show for all that money used to fund the act?
I do think the abuse was that the administration found a better way to package “pork”.
The sneak and peek warrant provisions of the Patriot Act only delay the usual requirement of notice.
Normally, a person served with a search warrant must be told immediately – that is, when the search is done.
Under the Patriot Act, the notice can be delayed up to 90 days, or, with a judge’s approval, an additional 90 days for 180 in total.
So, while I suppose it’s possible that a spate of sneak and peak warrants have been issued in the last 180 days, and that’s why we don’t know about them… I find this possibility unlikely. More likely is the conclusion that there have not been a spate of sneak and peak warrants, in spite of the Patriot Act.
My understanding is that the 90 day extensions can be granted continously with approval, without restriction on the total delay, but I’ll happily be proven wrong.
*Can anyone point to anything the government has done with expanded powers since 9/11/01, that you think is an abuse of power, and that could not have been done if the PATRIOT Act had not been enacted?
*
Your cites concern the current story about Bush’s authorization for the NSA to monitor US-to-overseas calls.
Here’s what Factcheck.org says about Sneek and Peek as of Sept '04:
Note that the feds still need a warrant to do the search, but the warrant is from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rather than from a “regular” court, and are not part of the public record.
If they’re not part of the public record, how do we know how many “sneak and peak” warrants the DOJ has obtained? Your cited story seems to rely on the DOJ’s self-report.
Under the provisions of the act, when the feds demand access to library, video rental, or bookstores records, they can forbid the librarians or businesses from telling anyone about the search. Because of that, we have no way of knowing how many such searches have happened. I heard about one librarian who is suing over one such search. The librarian remains anonymous, so as to stay out of prison.
Oh, and the political cartoonist was a ‘threat on the president’s life’ thing, not a Patriot Act issue. (If that wasn’t obvious by the link) My apologies.
(Man, I remember reading about how Teddy would invite people in somedays and shake their hands for hours and hours. I remember touring the White House as a knee high kid. Free Speech zones now. Damn shame. Not just Bush, world changed. Hijack ended)
It’s behind the WaPo firewall now, but if it wasn’t, I’d refer you to Barton Gellman’s front-page story from November 6 of this year: “The FBI’s Secret Scrutiny: In Hunt for Terrorists, Bureau Examines Records of Ordinary Americans.”
Gellman’s story discusses the roughly 30,000 annual National Security Letters the FBI issues each year, which is about 100 times as many as pre-9/11.
Such letters normally take the form of a demand to provide records to the FBI. The article states that the records can include pretty much anything - from email and website records to employment history to pawnshop transactions.
The article further says: “No one who knows about an NSL is permitted to disclose its existence for any reason, and the gag order never expires.”
The article also says, “Any of more than 60 field supervisors, and another dozen officials at FBI headquarters, may sign an NSL. No grand jury or judge reviews it, before or after delivery.”
BTW, the changes to the law governing NSLs are not among the Patriot Act provisions that are scheduled to expire at the end of the month.
YMMV, but I’d personally regard this as a ‘yes’ to the OP.