Rep. Johnson: Reform PATRIOT Act, Fight Terrorism While Protecting Civil Liberties
Bill would reauthorize Act, but curb excessive threats to civil liberties:
Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy, is an original cosponsor of the USA PATRIOT Act Amendments Act of 2009 (H.R. 3845), and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2009 (H.R. 3846).
Both bills were introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (MI-14) on Oct. 20.
H.R. 3845 would reauthorize those PATRIOT Act provisions critical to counterterrorism, while dramatically curbing excesses that jeopardize Americans’ civil liberties.
H.R. 3846 would repeal immunity for telecom companies that facilitate illegal spying on American citizens; ban “bulk collection” of Americans’ communications; and prohibit “reverse targeting,” or the exploitation of foreign surveillance laws to monitor U.S. citizens’ activities within the United States.
“The threat of terrorism is real, and law enforcement must have the right tools to protect Americans,” said Johnson. “But the PATRIOT Act went too far, and these bills will ensure that our counterterrorism efforts have a solid Constitutional footing.”
Johnson joined Chairman Conyers and fellow subcommittee chairs Reps. Jerrold Nadler (NY-08), Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Steve Cohen (TN-09) as an original cosponsor of both bills.
What it would do: USA Patriot Amendments Act of 2009
Roving Wiretaps
• Clarifies roving wiretap laws in order to ensure that the government only conducts surveillance on a single, identifiable target.
Criminal “Sneak and Peak” Searches
• Adopts safeguards against abuse of searches where notice to subject of search is delayed by shortening the initial 30 day delay period to 7 days, requiring that any application for an extension in the 7 day delay be made by the Senate confirmed US Attorney in the district where the delayed notice warrant was originally obtained, and removing ability to obtain delay by merely alleging that notice would “otherwise seriously jeopardize an investigation or unduly delay a trial.”
Lone Wolf
• Allows the Lone Wolf provision to sunset at the end of this year (December 31, 2009).
Title II: National Security Letter (NSL) Reform
• Ensures that the FBI can obtain basic information without a court order, but also adds reasonable safeguards.
• Improves the issuance standard for NSLs by requiring specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the information sought pertains to a foreign power or agent of a foreign power, and requires the FBI to record them in a written certification.
FISA Amendments Act of 2009
Telecommunications Immunity
• Repeals the retroactive immunity provision in the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, leaving it to the courts to determine whether telephone companies that complied with the illegal warrantless wiretapping program acted properly under the laws in effect at the time and therefore deserve immunity.
Reverse Targeting
• Places additional limits on the warrantless collection authorities of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to ensure that they are not used as a pretext when the government’s real goal is to target the Americans with whom the ostensible foreign target is communicating.
Use of Unlawfully Obtained Information
• Limits the government’s use of information about U.S. persons that is obtained under FISA Amendments Act of 2008 procedures that the FISA Court later determines to be unlawful, while still giving the FISA Court flexibility to allow such information to be used in appropriate cases.
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