WINTER 2005 NEWSLETTER
GEORGIA FOI ACCESS
GEORGIA FIRST AMENDMENT FOUNDATION

Patriot Act gets one-month extension:  Congress has until February to agree on controversial powers

Washington, D.C., Dec. 24, 2005, CNN -- The Senate briefly convened Thursday, Dec. 23 and passed a bill extending controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act just a few hours after the House voted to extend them for one month, five months fewer than the Senate proposed Wednesday night. The White House said President Bush will sign the bill. The Patriot Act, passed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, provided the government with wider surveillance and prosecutorial powers to use against suspected terrorists. Some critics of the act, however, say the measure goes too far in eroding civil liberties guaranteed in the Constitution.

The act's 16 controversial provisions, set to expire at year's end, would remain in effect until February 3 with the president's signature. Failure to pass the bill could have led to the first special session of Congress in more than 70 years.

The original House version of the bill, which would have extended the provisions and altered some of them, was scuttled by a Senate filibuster last week. That forced senators to reach a compromise that extended the 16 controversial provisions for six months so the act could be retooled. The senators said they would take up the matter when they return from their break in January. Now the bill awaits the signature of President Bush, who had said he wanted the key provisions of the legislation renewed and would veto a three-month extension. But a senior White House official said Thursday the president would approve the even shorter extension. The bill will give lawmakers about five weeks to revisit a bill that would have made 14 of the 16 expiring provisions permanent and extended two others until 2009 -- the bill stalled by the Senate filibuster.

The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act was passed overwhelmingly by Congress as a counter-terrorism measure after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. While most of its provisions are permanent, a few were designed to expire at the end of 2005 unless Congress voted to extend them.

Source: CNN.com

THE 16 PROVISIONS OF THE PATRIOT ACT

Section 215 permits "tangible items" to be obtained from libraries.

Section 201 -- Gives federal officials the authority to intercept wire, spoken and electronic communications relating to terrorism.

Section 202 -- Gives federal officials the authority to intercept wire, spoken and electronic communications relating to computer fraud and abuse offenses.

Subsection 203(b) -- Permits the sharing of grand jury information that involves foreign intelligence or counterintelligence with federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective, immigration, national defense or national security officials.

Subsection 203(d) -- Gives foreign intelligence or counterintelligence officers the ability to share foreign intelligence information obtained as part of a criminal investigation with law enforcement.

Section 204 -- Makes clear that nothing in the law regarding pen registers -- an electronic device which records all numbers dialed from a particular phone line -- stops the government's ability to obtain foreign intelligence information.

Section 206 -- Allows federal officials to issue roving "John Doe" wiretaps, which allow investigators to listen in on any telephone and tap any computer they think a suspected spy or terrorist might use.

Section 207 -- Increases the amount of time that federal officials may watch people they suspect are spies or terrorists.

Section 209 -- Permits the seizure of voicemail messages under a warrant.

Section 212 -- Permits Internet service providers and other electronic communication and remote computing service providers to hand over records and e-mails to federal officials in emergency situations.

Section 214 -- Allows use of a pen register or trap and trace devices that record originating phone numbers of all incoming calls in international terrorism or spy investigations.

Section 215 -- Authorizes federal officials to obtain "tangible items" like business records, including those from libraries and bookstores, for foreign intelligence and international terrorism investigations.

Section 217 -- Makes it lawful to intercept the wire or electronic communication of a computer hacker or intruder in certain circumstances.

Section 218 -- Allows federal officials to wiretap or watch suspects if foreign intelligence gathering is a "significant purpose" for seeking a Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act order. The pre-Patriot Act standard said officials could ask for the surveillance only if it was the sole or main purpose.

Section 220 -- Provides for nationwide service of search warrants for electronic evidence.

Section 223 -- Amends the federal criminal code to provide for administrative discipline of federal officers or employees who violate prohibitions against unauthorized disclosures of information gathered under this act.

Section 225 -- Amends FISA to prohibit lawsuits against people or companies that provide information to federal officials for a terrorism investigation.

Sources: CNN.com and The Associated Press