CDT Urges Congress to Move Forward with Legislation to Fix the Patriot Act

Tuesday, October 14, 2003 -- CDT announced today its support for the Security and Freedom Ensured ("SAFE") Act, a bipartisan effort to place reasonable limitations on some of the most far-reaching surveillance powers authorized by the USA PATRIOT Act. Introduced by Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), the bill is cosponsored by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Michael Crapo (R-ID), Russell Feingold (D-WI), John Sununu (R-NH), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). CDT urges the Senate leadership to take action on the SAFE Act and and the growing number of other bills placing procedural limits on PATRIOT Act powers.

"The public concern with government over-reaching transcends political affiliation, so it is no surprise to see this level of bipartisan support for the SAFE Act," CDT Staff Counsel Lara Flint said. "People from all political perspectives can agree that the FBI should be subject to appropriate checks and balances and should be held accountable for its actions, and that is what this bill ensures."

While the SAFE Act subjects the FBI to additional judicial and congressional oversight, it leaves in place the FBI's expanded powers to obtain the information that it needs to fight terrorism. Specifically, the SAFE Act would:

minimize the risk that innocent conversations could be taped in the course of an intelligence wiretap;
limit the use of "sneak & peek" search warrants to those situations where someone's life is at stake, someone will flee prosecution or evidence will be destroyed, and restrict the delay of notification to 7 days unless the FBI gets further judicial approval to extend it;
require the FBI to submit some minimal evidence that a person whose business records it is seeking is a suspected terrorist or spy before it can get a secret court order to obtain those sensitive files;
ensure that the FBI cannot obtain information about library computer users from the libraries themselves without a court order; and
sunset the "sneak & peek" provision of the PATRIOT Act, as well as three other expanded surveillance powers, in 2005.

The bill joins a growing list of federal legislative proposals to add appropriate oversight mechanisms to the PATRIOT Act. Other bills include:

Protecting the Rights of Individuals Act, S. 1552, which amends sneak & peek, the definition of domestic terrorism, Section 215, John Doe roving taps, pen/traps for the Internet, FBI access to education records, the "significant" purpose test and the use of FISA evidence at trial to include appropriate checks & balances; the bill also imposes moratorium on data mining and requires additional public reporting on the FBI's use of FISA.
PATRIOT Oversight Restoration Act, S. 1695, which sunsets additional provisions of the PATRIOT Act in 2005.
Reasonable Notice and Search Act, S. 1701, which amends the sneak & peek provision to add stronger judicial and congressional oversight.
Library, Bookseller, and Personal Records Privacy Act, S. 1507, which amends Section 215
to add stronger judicial and congressional oversight.
Domestic Surveillance Oversight Act, S. 436, which requires additional public reporting on the FBI's use of FISA.
Freedom to Read Protection Act, H.R. 1157, which ensures that the FBI cannot obtain library and bookstore records with only a secret rubber-stamp court order.
Surveillance Oversight and Disclosure Act, H.R. 2429, which requires additional public reporting on the FBI's use of FISA.
Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act, H.R. 3171, which repeals sections of the PATRIOT Act as well as other guidelines and regulations.

For further information on the USA PATRIOT Act and related issues, see http://www.cdt.org/security/010911response.shtml.

The Center for Democracy and Technology, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to developing public policy solutions that advance civil liberties and democratic values in the digital age.

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