WASHINGTON, DC - Last week, Congressman John F. Tierney (D-Salem), the only New England Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, heard testimony at one of the Committee’s rare public hearings on the renewal and possible modification of intelligence aspects of the US PATRIOT Act. Certain provisions of the Act are set to expire on December 31, 2005.

“The passage of the Patriot Act was rushed after 9/11. The Republican Leadership in Congress forced Members to vote on the bill only hours after it was printed. In fact, the provisions that many claim to be excessive and unconstitutional were added without debate just before the bill was printed and brought to the floor for a vote,” explained Tierney.

Congress passed the US PATRIOT Act in response to the terrorists' attacks of September 11, 2001. Under the PATRIOT Act, the government was given broad new investigative powers that, among other things, expanded search and seizure authority, reduced judicial scrutiny, and forbid in some instances public disclosure of government actions.

“The Intelligence Committee’s review gives us the opportunity to reshape parts of the PATRIOT Act to meet the public’s demand to live in a safe country while still having protected constitutional rights,” said Tierney.

Testifying at last week’s hearing, ACLU’s National Security Policy Counsel explained, “as a result (of the PATRIOT Act’s passage), a previously obscure and rarely used power can now be used far more widely to obtain many more records of American citizens and lawful residents. Because the requirement of (establishing for a judge) individual suspicion has been repealed, records powers can now be used to obtain entire databases of private information for ‘data mining’ purposes - using computer software to tag law abiding Americans as terrorist suspects based on a computer algorithm.”

"It is my belief that we could, and should, re-work the PATRIOT Act so as to allow expansion of some law enforcement activities within proper constitutional bounds while ensuring that unnecessary intrusions on constitutionally protected civil liberties are prohibited,” said Tierney.

Under the House Intelligence Committee’s review were the following controversial sections:

• “Sneak and Peak" provision (Sec. 213) refers to the government's power to get search warrants from judges without telling targets in advance and to delay notice when one of an enumerated list of reasons is satisfied. One item on this list is a “catch all” provision that effectively allows “sneak and peak” searches in almost any case, according to critics.

• “Library Records” provision (Section 215), which allows the FBI to demand - upon mere certification to a judge -“any tangible thing" that relate to an “authorized" national security investigation. Individuals who receive such warrants, along with businesses, are barred from telling anyone that they have received them. Librarians, college administrators, and church officials who would likely receive such warrants, have expressed serious concerns that the powers are too broad.

• “John Doe” Roving Wiretaps provision (Section 206), which allows the federal government to tap any telephone, cellular phone or Internet connection used by an unspecified, vaguely described person.

Following the hearing Tierney said, “Witnesses seemed to bolster the case for reasonable modifications to the PATRIOT Act provisions that would restore proper checks and balances to the process. Congress needs to proceed along that line to ensure there is adequate investigative authority without unconstitutional intrusion into individual constitutional rights.”

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