POLITICS: "Patriot Act II" Leaked - Senate Committee to Consider Draft Tomorrow

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has managed to obtain a copy of a draft bill that will renew and broaden various USA PATRIOT Act powers. The draft will be considered in a closed session by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence tomorrow.



Rumours of a "PATRIOT ACT II" have been floating around for a couple of years now. In 2003, the Department of Justice under John Ashcroft drafted a bill named the "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003". The document was obtained by the Center for Public Integrity and released to the public on their website.
www.publicintegrity.org...

The bill, however, never made it to the legislative stage and faded into obscurity.

Now it seems a new version, or at least a major amendment, sunset repeal, and expansion of the PATRIOT ACT has surfaced, and is being quietly introduced to the legislative process.

The draft and summary can be downloaded from the EFF website at the link in the article above.


[edit on 2005/5/25 by wecomeinpeace]

*bump* I don't usually like to bump my own submissions, but I feel this one is important and may have been overlooked. Unless it's been reported before. (?)

Isn't june 2005, the month where they would actually implement the Draft.

I dont think they would actually do it though. Unless something major happened that would cause the draft...

[edit on 29-5-2005 by mwen]

Thanks for the bump, wecomeinpeace, in this case it was warranted(pun intended). I overlooked it as I'm sure many others did as well.

One of the key points I read in the article summary that I find relevant is the ability of government to access he private records of citizens NOT suspected of a crime. Why would they require such information(rheotorical question). Welcome to the Fascist States of America......do your job, participate in accepted social outlets and don't utter a peep that can be argued by any superiors as we have a social/psychological disease that we most assuredly can apply to you.

Can support or it's blatant opposite effect the passage of this bill at this point?

a country or people that know they are being watched will tow the line and at least act a certain way. if there came a time when we all knew that what we wrote and said about 'current events' will probably get us into trouble either legaly or financialy, would it change what we say and do?? is just the threat enough of a threat to spur a response from the citizenry??

as for the draft...they will call it something else but it will happen. they bend over backwards now to get, or should I say let, people into the military and if you are prior service and want back in..you are good as gold, and WILL get back in.

do you smell coffee??..I smell coffee..does anybody else smell coffee??..'cause it sure smells like coffee......................wake up

The PA #1 while detestable had some justification in the context of 9/11 and was palatable to me at the time only because of its sunset provision.

I guess politicians being what they are will not let go of any power or limitations removed once they have had a taste.

I will be writing my Senator and Congressman in oppostion to any PA #2 or clone bill as they virtually abbrogate the constitution.

I suggest everyone else do the same.

In this matter I think Liberal and Conservative alike should agree.

Phoenix, im a conservative and absolutely agree with you PA#2 should not exist. Also, when they refer to a draft are they talking a draft of a bill or conscription into the army?

I think one or two posters may have confused the title as meaning the Senate Committee is considering a military draft. Just to clarify, the committee is considering the initial draft of a bill, not mandatory military conscription.

[edit on 2005/5/29 by wecomeinpeace]

Originally posted byXphilesPhan

Also, when they refer to a draft are they talking a draft of a bill or conscription into the army?

Someone has confused "draft PA#2 document" with "military draft" the original story mentioned draft PA#2 document.

Covered this one a while ago:

FBI seeks to expand their powers with less oversight

But since the draft is tomorrow, why not make another topic.

That story is about the FBI director asking for expanded powers back in April, Sim. This is a consideration of a draft version of another Patriot Act, the scope of which goes beyond simply the FBI's powers. As a part of this committee sitting, the FBI is now also again asking for those expanded powers. Back in April, no draft of the PAII was considered nor leaked to the public, although there were some applications for sunset repeals. This is a new development and I believe folks would want to see the actual draft themselves since it has just come to light. Your article was excellent and a good find. Not trying to step on your toes, mate.

I dislike both PA I and II. They are disgusting violations of our civil rights, and I don't believe that they were motivated by fear of terrorism They are both blatant grabs for power, made possible by keeping us afraid.

There has not been a terrorist attack on US soil in the last four years.

Despite that I went to see a movie the other day, and a sign was posted saying that for the safety of everyone, backpacks are no longer allowed in movie theaters.

When we trade freedom for security, we end up with neither.

I think we need an amendment to the constitution to implement our rights to privacy. It would be the only way to prevent the abuses of search and seizure powers that have been growing steadily since the begining of the "war on drugs".

Is it really in all of our best interests to give police the right to search us in our cars, to stop a minority of us from doing drugs?

I don't think so.

It is also against our best interests to allow the DHS to keep databases on us to protect against the threat of terrorism.

Nice catch and bump wecomeinpeace.
What caught my interest the most was the way many of the sections have been re-worded. If you pay attention to the new wording, The goverment is not constrained to only monitoring those who may be suspected or on a terrorist list. Anyone can have their mail, phone conversations, credit card purchases etc. monitoried by the goverment just on the say so on one person in the goverment. If it is found that the survelance was unwarranted, then too bad so sad. the goverment agent can not be held responsible. The goverment does not even have to admit that they are monitoring anyone or any group.
The way that this draft is worded is extrememly dangerous and smells just as bad as the old McArthy era witch hunts.

There is not reason for a PAII which runs in the same vein as PA I.

PA II should reign in and fine-tune PA I and extend it with a new sunset clause and a provision that the law should NEVER be stripped of its sunset clause so that it must be reviewed periodically and kept as minimally invasive as possible.

It should clarify definitions so that they can't classify other people (even criminals like gang members) as terrorists, but must pass seperate relevant laws to deal with such threats. This can keep the loose standards for due process confined to foreign terrorists and keep it from proliferating down to investigation of average americans.

Border security should be a big part of PAII. It's a huge issue right now anyway, it's relevant to terrorism, weapons trade, drug trade, etc. It should do away with "sanctuary cities", incorporate border security operations into the training program for military units (ie: periodically have military forces patrol the border and process apprehended illegals as a way of giving them experience). etc

Nuclear security should be a big part of PAII. Get the equipment in place for detecting weapons and managing the aftermath. Harden key infrastructure against EMP attack, etc.


There is plenty to do with PAII. If this turns into another privacy violation bill I think I'm going to be sick.

Originally posted by kenshiro2012
The goverment does not even have to admit that they are monitoring anyone or any group.

When you consider projects like MK-Ultra and the governments use of unsuspecting citizens for experimentation and today's unknown counterpart that we may or may not hear about twenty years from now, is this any big deal?

The government has the capacity to do what they want because they don't necassarily keep the public informed(I know, I know....duh) and if even 30% of the experiments regarding hypnosis were successful back then, there is alot of material they have had years to customize to specs. Our rights have already been stuffed into parameters that rarely stray from what the media propagates..........