Yesterday Clarence Page wrote a column about LEOs using Patriot Act search procedures to investigate money laundering - a Las Vegas strip club owner accused of bribing local officials.
available at Chicago Trib site - requires free registration
The column had quotes (paraphrased below) from Justice Department officials to the effect that “The PA was never solely about terrorism” and "we feel the American public wants us to use any tools at our disposal to combat crime."
There is no mention of why LEOs believed traditional search procedures, such as obtaining a warrant, were impractical.
This really sends a chill up my spine, and makes me suspect my worst fears about the PA may have been true. I find it terribly troublesome to suspect that the administration opportunistically preyed upon the post-9/11 climate to pass a law-and-order agenda reducing civil liberties in a manner that was neither needed nor intended to combat terrorism. All the while declaring critics to be unpatriotic…
I’d recommend a read of the Patriot Act, as many (most) of its clauses do not specify themselves as “terrorism only”. Really, the only terrorism specific items I can think of off the top of my head were some of abilities granted to officials to search the funding of organizations suspected of funding terrorism.
Title III covers money laundering, as it’s titled “TITLE III–INTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERING ABATEMENT AND ANTI-TERRORIST FINANCING ACT OF 2001”. Note the separation of money laundering and terrorism.
Each separate clause is quite specific on its inclusion of terrorism-related activity.
I dunno. I’m certainly in agreement with you that the Patriot Act has some questionable content, all of which have been thoroughly discussed on the boards. But I think the portions of it regarding finances, money laundering, and investigating possible terrorist support are the least controversial among them.