COLUMNS
Deadline for the Patriot
Act
By Russ Feingold and John Sununu
November 9, 2005
IN JULY, something unusual occurred in Washington:
The US Senate cast a unanimous vote on a controversial issue. Every
member of the Senate agreed to make meaningful changes to the Patriot
Act as we reauthorized parts of it scheduled to expire at the end
of the year. These revisions will ensure that our government can
wage an effective fight against terrorists that respects our basic
freedoms. But the battle for these reforms is not over. In the coming
weeks, a House-Senate conference committee will meet to work out
the differences between competing versions of the bill. Hard-won
improvements to the Patriot Act could be in jeopardy.
We will make every effort -- and, if we have
to, use procedural options at our disposal -- to oppose a final
reauthorization bill that either strips out the meaningful changes
made by the Senate bill or adds measures that ignore the public
demands for more protection of our rights and freedoms. Our goal
is not to derail reauthorization; it is to ensure that necessary
changes to the Patriot Act are made as part of the reauthorization
bill. We can -- and should -- provide law enforcement with the tools
necessary to fight terrorism while protecting civil liberties at
home.
The end-of-the-year deadline for reauthorization
gives us a rare chance to fix parts of the Patriot Act -- creating
a check on searches for library, bookstore, and other sensitive
records, putting new safeguards on secret ''sneak and peek"
searches of Americans' homes, and giving citizens real power to
challenge secret court orders. These and other issues are at stake
in the House-Senate conference committee's deliberations.
If the Senate bill prevails in conference, Congress
will finally catch up with an American public that has been questioning
the Patriot Act for years -- librarians who are standing up to a
Justice Department that wants the power to dig into Americans' library
records; town and city councils -- even whole states -- that have
passed resolutions opposing parts of the Patriot Act; and business
interests like the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association
of Manufacturers, and the National Association of Realtors that
support changes to the law.
The Senate bill would make changes to some of
the most controversial provisions of the Patriot Act. The Senate
bill would:
Require the government to convince a judge that
a person is connected to terrorism or espionage before secretly
obtaining library, medical, and other sensitive business records
about that person, and allow recipients of court orders for such
records to challenge them in court.
Require the government in most circumstances
to inform targets of ''sneak and peek" searches within seven
days instead of being able to delay that notification for an indefinite
period as permitted by the Patriot Act, or for up to six months
as permitted by the House bill.
Eliminate ''John Doe roving wiretaps," the
secret intelligence orders that can now be issued without identifying
either the person or phone to be tapped.
Provide only a four-year extension for three
of the most sensitive provisions of the Patriot Act.
The House bill fails to include these important
measures, leaving too many of our freedoms at risk. While some improvements
were incorporated in the House bill, it is still a far cry from
what Congress owes the American people.
There is a strong sense among many Americans
that in the Patriot Act the government overreached when it sought
power that is a potential threat to law-abiding citizens. Congress
should respond to these legitimate concerns by sending the unanimously
adopted Senate version of the Patriot Act reauthorization bill to
the president. We must reform the Patriot Act, not rubber-stamp
the original law. With these reforms, we can fight terrorism without
sacrificing our freedoms.
Russ Feingold, a Democratic US senator from
Wisconsin, and John Sununu, a Republican US senator from New Hampshire,
are original cosponsors of the legislation to modify the Patriot
Act.
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