Just forty-five days after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush signed the US Patriot Act into law. The Patriot Act gave more sweeping powers to the federal government. The document was 342 pages long and filled with complex legal technical jargon that amended over twelve federal laws. Most congressional representatives commented they did not even read the massive document before passing it.
Members of Congress and their constituents, the American people, had no idea the act contained legislation that turned the CIA, the FBI and the INS into what amounted to be a secret police. The definition of “terrorism” was so broad it could include political dissenters (groups that are working for change for political or ideological reasons) that use a broad definition of “force” to further their cause. This definition could include nailing a protest poster to a courthouse, participating in a picket line, engaging in anti-abortion protests, taxpayer protests, protests staged by environmental organizations such as Greenpeace, and political actions by the National Rifle Association.
The most appalling aspect of the Patriot Act was the power given to the government to conduct “sneak and peek” searches of American homes and businesses. Government agents were now able to enter citizen’s homes, examine all their personal documents, search their computer files, look through their possessions and take possession of files and documents, without a warrant and without ever notifying them they had been there.
After claiming this portion of the act was never used, under pressure from Congress, the federal government admitted to engaging in these searches approximately forty-seven times. Under further pressure, the number went up to two thousand. Finally, the FBI claimed it was not certain of the number of times the searches had been done.
In addition to searching your home, federal agents could now secretly access your financial records, education records, Internet provider’s records, bookstores, video stores and credit information—as long as the government could assert the search was related to a terrorism investigation under the broad definition given. All the agent had to claim to the public holders of this information was they were conducting “a terrorism investigation.” Your financial institution or school could not tell you the records were accessed without facing criminal prosecution. These document searches and seizures could be targeted at private businesses as well. Company management, as well as all the holders of your business and personal information, had to turn the records over and were bound by the act from notifying you.
Another power under the Patriot Act is allowing the government to conduct roving wiretaps. Any judge can authorize federal agents to wiretap an individual’s cell phone, telephone line, Internet connections and e-mail system to follow that person, even if the individual’s name is not disclosed. This is called a “Doe” target. All that is necessary is for the government to label you as a “terrorist.” Using the new FBI data mining system known as Carnivore, the FBI can search all of your electronic forms of communication using this Internet spying tool.
Thus, the Patriot Act gutted important provisions in the US Bill of Rights. It also violated the fourth Amendment of the Constitution by authorizing secret searches and seizures. In the words of Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wisc.), we will lose the war on terrorism “without firing a shot if we sacrifice the liberties of the American people.”
The original provisions of the Patriot Act expired in 2009. Led by Senator Russ Feingold, a request from the White House to extend the sweeping powers of the Act was delayed for two months. In a vote of 95-4, a bipartisan debate was ended and a new version of the act was approved. The bill made most of the laws in the act permanent. However, two sections of the act and a third section that is part of the intelligence reform law of 2004 expired in 2009.
Changes that brought most of the opponents of the bill to agreement were:
• Entities that receive secret court orders to turn over information on an American citizen cannot disclose those orders, but can challenge the seal on the information after a year
• Libraries, including those offering Internet access, do not have to turn over records to the FBI without the approval of a judge
• Recipients of the FBI’s “national security letter,” demanding personal information on an individual or business would not have to disclose the requested information to the FBI if they consult a lawyer
• Unlike the original act, subjects of no-notice “sneak and peek” searches must be notified within 30 days after the search
Senator Feingold, still opposing the powers given to the government that remain in the act, commented the changes in the bill were “nowhere near enough.” Other senators, such as John Sununu (R-NH) called the changes “significant steps forward.” Sununu claimed several senators opposed the Patriot Act, but backed down from confronting the White House.
Since the passage of the Patriot Act, 234 cities, towns and counties have passed their own resolutions, ballot initiatives or local ordinances prohibiting their local police from complying with the Patriot Act.
Government Holds Secret Interpretation of the Patriot Act
In 2011, Senators, Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mark Udall (D-CO) began warning the government is using a secret legal interpretation of the Patriot Act. This interpretation is so broad it amounts to a law totally different than the one revealed to the public. “There is a significant discrepancy between what most Americans - including many members of Congress - think the Patriot Act allows the government to do and how government officials interpret that same law,” wrote Senators Wyden and Udall. “We believe that most members of the American public would be very surprised to learn how federal surveillance law is being interpreted in secret.” The Senators have been prevented from specifying what aspects of this secret Patriot Act have them seriously concerned. Information surrounding their protests indicates some of their concerns involve the “business-records provision” of the Patriot Act. This provision gives the FBI extensive power to force medical offices, banks, businesses and other organizations to turn over all “tangible things” it claims are relevant to a security investigation. If the organization reveals it has turned this information over, it can face criminal prosecution. Wyden and Udall continued, “In our view, the executive branch’s decision to conceal the U.S. government’s official understanding of what this law means is unacceptable, and untenable in the long run. . . . Intelligence agencies need to have the ability to conduct secret operations, but they should not be allowed to rely on secret laws.”
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The Senators introduced an amendment to compel the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General to provide a “detailed assessment of the problems posed by the reliance of government agencies on interpretations of domestic surveillance authorities that are inconsistent with the understanding of such authorities by the public.”
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The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, overseen by Vice Chairman Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), rejected an amendment by Wyden requiring the Justice Department to estimate how many American citizens the US government has eavesdropped on in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments of 2008.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Senator Mark Udall (D-CO).
Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Vice Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Authority and ‘No Limits’
Immediately following the attacks of 9/11, President Bush anointed the CIA with unthinkable authority. The Agency was given the go-ahead to kidnap suspects, also known as, “rendition,” even on the soil of allied countries and without that country’s knowledge; then turn the suspects over to foreign intelligence services, who engaged in severe torture and interrogation. No limits were set on what the CIA could do, including establishing secret prisons in foreign countries without the consent of the local government.
The Agency began to function as the organization feared by opponents of its creation after Pearl Harbor; a global military police organization. Thousands of “suspects” were “snatched and grabbed” in over a hundred foreign countries and incarcerated in secret prisons. Hundreds of these individuals had no important connections to Al Qaeda.
As noted above, the CIA had now been given legal powers to spy on American citizens. It could read secret Grand Jury testimony without a judge’s approval and collect private information or “intelligence” on citizens, businesses and financial institutions. The CIA had been given authority to spy on US citizens for the first time in American history. The traditional constraints which permitted the Agency to spy only on non-US citizens or foreign governments had been removed.
General Hayden, Director of the NSA, submitted a plan to use the NSA’s massive resources to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists within the United States without a warrant. On October 4, 2001, the President ordered Hayden to execute the plan. Now both the CIA and the NSA were spying within the United States.
The most chilling aspect of the CIA’s new sweeping powers was the proposal by its Assistant Director of Intelligence, James Monneir Simon, Jr. Simon proposed to Attorney General John Ashcroft that a national identity card be created and required for every American citizen. This card would contain the individual’s fingerprint, specially digitized photograph, retinal scan, voice sample and a sample of DNA. Because of the possibility of Americans’ losing the card, the proposal was made to insert the microchip into the person’s body. Fortunately for us all, this chip concept never materialized. The fact that a senior CIA official proposed this to the White House was a signal of the dangerous lengths the CIA was willing to go with its new powers.
In addition to its newly acquired control, the CIA continued to use huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to run its new operations. Millions were handed out to Afghanistan and Iraqi sources. No accounting of these expenditures was made to Congress or the American people. The Agency had managed to keep its budget secret and hidden its activities, even from the Government Accountability Office.
Finally, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had been attempting to gain approval from Congress to use Intelligence Community spy satellites to surveil individuals within the US for law enforcement purposes. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff briefed members of Congress on the program on February 13, 2008. According to a Congressional memorandum to Chertoff dated April 7, 2008, Chertoff advised the charter for the National Applications Office (NAO) would be completed in a week. When Congress received the charter, it did not contain any Standard Operating Procedures or the legal framework Congress had recommended to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans. The NAO had already begun advertising to fill positions in the organization. The charter had been finalized without any input from the Congressional Committee on Homeland Security, the Government Accountability Office or the “privacy and civil liberties community.” Eventually, news programs reported the Attorney General had decided to scrap the proposal.
President Harry S. Truman. As a result of the Pearl Harbor attacks, Truman established the CIA in the midst of strong opposition from the FBI and Department of State.
Lt. General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, first Director of Central Intelligence and one driving force behind the creation of the CIA.
Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.)