[Infowarrior] - DOJ PATRIOT Act Apologist Site Didn't Get the Memo

[Richard Forno]

PATRIOT Act Apologist Site Didn't Get the Memo

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/

Last week, the Department of Justice Inspector General's office released a
damning report documenting the FBI abusing its powers under the PATRIOT Act
and violating the law to collect Americans' telephone, Internet, financial,
credit, and other personal records about Americans without judicial
approval.

It appears that not everyone at the DOJ got the memo. The DOJ's Life and
Liberty website, a site dedicated to defending the honor of the PATRIOT Act
during the re-authorization process last spring, still reads as if nothing
has changed. Particularly in the light of the newly revealed truth, many of
the quotes now seem (at best) naive.

Under the headline of "Examining the Facts", the DOJ asserts that PATRIOT
has "four-year track record with no verified civil liberties abuses." The
site quotes an op-ed by former House Judiciary Committee Chairman James
Sensenbrenner:

    Zero. That's the number of substantiated USA PATRIOT Act civil liberties
violations. Extensive congressional oversight found no violations. Six
reports by the Justice Department's independent Inspector General, who is
required to solicit and investigate any allegations of abuse, found no
violations.

Wow, that sure sounds good. Unfortunately, the new report reveals that is is
simply not true: the inspector general identifies dozens of instances in
which extra-judicial demands for personal information -- known as National
Security Letters -- may have violated laws and agency regulations.

In the Archive section, the site includes quotes from an op-ed by Senator
Pat Roberts responding to critics like ourselves:

    I regret to say it, but the rhetoric of those opposed to permanently
authorizing the act has no substance and borders on paranoia. Opponents have
criticized the act for years but can cite only hypothetical abuses. Facts
are stubborn things. The actual record is quite clear - there have been no
substantiated allegations of abuse of Patriot Act authorities, period.

Critics could only point to hypothetical abuses because the fox was guarding
the hen house. Senator Roberts also opined that:

    Through aggressive congressional oversight, we know the FBI uses Patriot
Act authorities within the law.

It's now clearer than ever that the oversight was not aggressive enough,
with the report documenting that the FBI decieved Congress about its use of
the letters. The report is likely only the tip of the iceberg. Immediate and
thorough oversight hearings are necessary to uncover the truth and hold the
Administration accountable.