The patriot act

A selection of articles that turned up at a Townhall search on "Patriot Act"...

Three Cheers for the Patriot Act

The 9/11 Commission has revealed another zealot who supports the dreaded USA Patriot Act, insisting that "everything that's been done in the Patriot Act has been helpful." Not a few things. Not even most things. "Everything." Who is this thoughtless pawn of John Ashcroft? None other than former Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno.

Preserve the Patriot Act

That would be particularly true if the Patriot Act’s most vociferous critics on the Left and their less numerous (and most unlikely) bedfellows on the Right were to have their way. They have tended to characterize the Act as an assault on the basic freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights and have sought far-reaching changes in the tools it provides law enforcement to detect and prevent terrorist plots inside the United States.

In reality, the Patriot Act is an eminently sensible overhaul of the government’s antiquated counter-terror arsenal, an overhaul that reflects the realization that we cannot hope to fight a 21st century war using 20th century legal instruments. Consider two of its elements whose repeal the critics have most insistently demanded: 1) the so-called “library records” provision (Section 215) and 2) the authorization of what have been derided as “sneak-and-peek” search warrants (Sec. 213).

Overblown fears about the Patriot Act

...terrorists can't be rooted out unless investigators have the means to find them. And for years, federal agents were barred from using tools in counterterrorism work that were readily available to agents pursuing gangsters or drug dealers. Nor could investigators hunting terrorists swap potentially useful information with criminal investigators -- an intelligence "wall" that helps explain the government's failure to expose the 9/11 plot before it was carried out.

The Patriot Act was designed, among other things, to plug those gaping holes. The wisdom of doing so is suggested by the fact that Al Qaeda has not managed to pull off another attack on US soil. The fears some expressed when the law was first enacted -- that it would trigger a wave of repression, that domestic dissenters would be silenced -- turned out to be groundless. If anything, the Patriot Act should be more popular today than when it was passed by a nearly unanimous Congress in 2001.

Checking out the Patriot Act

But while the Patriot Act gives the government important?and limited?new powers, it?s actually being applied only rarely. For example, despite all the complaints from librarians, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced last fall that the federal government has never used Section 215 to search library records. Not once. It?s difficult to understand how Section 215 could be considered abusive of rights when it?s never been used.

But instead of being glad that the law is being judiciously applied, the American Library Association?s executive director said that the lack of warrants proves the law isn?t needed. ?They have demonstrated that there is no need to change the tradition of protecting library patrons? reading records,? Emily Sheketoff sniffed.

Wrong. What the federal government has actually done is prove that it won?t abuse Section 215. But the fact it?s never been used doesn?t prove it?s not needed. As in the Moussaoui case, there may well come a time when we need information, and we?ll be glad we can get it with a judge?s warrant.

We should keep a careful eye out to make sure the Patriot Act isn?t abused, just as we should keep a careful eye on everything the federal government does. But many librarians are stressing out over nothing. Next time, they should do a little research before they get worked up over a sensible reform.

PATRIOT Act and the "message" problem

The USA PATRIOT act of 2001 is crucial for the war on terror. The bill is long. You can read the whole thing at the Cato institute, if you have an iron will. And you should read it. But, if you are a conservative, you have long recognized that the PATRIOT act is a hard sell. The tools that are provided by this legislation are of the sort that make a small-government conservative squirm.