Statement on patriot Act re-authorization Log of press releases & speeches on Patriot Act
"The Patriot Act is essential to protecting the American people against the terrorists. The Act tore down the wall between law enforcement and intelligence officials so that they can share information and work together to help prevent attacks. ... The Patriot Act has helped us disrupt terrorist plots and break up cells here in the United States. I will work closely with the House and Senate to make sure that we are not without this crucial law for even a day."
-- President George W. Bush
December 22, 2005
The President Will Work With Congress To Complete Reauthorization Of The Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is a key part of America's efforts to combat terrorism and protect the American people. The Patriot Act has enhanced information sharing between law enforcement and intelligence personnel and has provided critical tools to find and catch terrorists - tools that have been used for years to investigate other crimes such as organized crime and drug dealing. The President looks forward to continuing to work with Congress on reauthorization.
The Patriot Act Should Be Fully Renewed To Stop Terrorists Before They Strike
* The Patriot Act Authorized Better Information Sharing
Between Law Enforcement And Intelligence Agencies. Before the Patriot Act,
criminal investigators were separated from intelligence officers by a legal
and bureaucratic wall. The Patriot Act helped tear down this wall - and
now law enforcement and intelligence officers are sharing information,
working as a team, and breaking up terror networks.
* The Patriot Act Gives Law Enforcement Agents The
Ability To Use Tools Against Terrorists That Are Already Available Against
Other Criminals. The Patriot Act permitted law enforcement to use the same
tools to investigate terrorists that they already had to investigate drug
dealers, tax cheats, and organized crime.
* The Patriot Act Updates The Law To Meet 21st Century
Threats Like Computer Espionage And Cyberterrorism. Terrorists are using
every advantage of 21st century technology - and Congress needs to ensure
that our law enforcement can as well.
* The Patriot Act Helps Law Enforcement Fight Terrorism
While Safeguarding Civil Liberties For All Americans. The judicial branch
has a strong oversight role in the application of the Patriot Act. Law
enforcement officers must seek a federal judge's permission to wiretap
a foreign terrorist's phone, track his calls, or search his property. These
strict standards are fully consistent with the Constitution. Congress also
oversees the application of the Patriot Act, and in more than three years
there has not been a single verified abuse.
* The Patriot Act Has Protected American Liberty
and Saved American Lives. Law enforcement has used the Patriot Act to break
up terror cells and prosecute terrorist operatives and supporters in New
York, Oregon, Virginia, Florida, California, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois,
North Carolina, and Ohio.
Consequences of Letting the USA PATRIOT Act Expire
If the USA PATRIOT Act is allowed to expire, we will return to a pre-9/11 mode of information sharing where there are not clear rules governing investigators' ability to share information with each other, where terrorists and spies can use technology against us, and where it is more difficult to investigate a potential terrorist attack that it is to catch a drug dealer, a mobster, or a white collar criminal.
For example:
* Confusion will once again be injected into the questions about what and how information may be shared between criminal investigators and intelligence personnel.
* Investigators would possibly be several steps behind sophisticated terrorists and spies who frequently change phones to evade surveillance.
* In the vast majority of cases, intelligence investigators will no longer be able to trace the calls of terrorists and spies.
* It will once again be illegal for a law enforcement officer who learns of an imminent terrorist threat through a wiretap to disclose that threat to our nation's intelligence agencies without first obtaining a court's approval.
* American companies will not be able to ask law enforcement to assist in disrupting and investigating a cyber attack.
* An Internet service provider that voluntarily discloses to the police an e-mail threatening an imminent terrorist attack can once again be sued for doing so.
* Investigators will no longer be able to use the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's investigative tools to pursue "lone wolf" terrorists.
More specific consequences include:
Sections 201 and 202-Wiretap predicates: These sections provided authority for wiretaps relating to certain offenses that terrorists are likely to commit (e.g. material support of terrorist organizations, chemical weapons offenses, and using weapons of mass destruction) to the list of predicate offenses in the federal wiretap statute (18 USC ยง 2516(1)). They also added offenses under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (including computer espionage) to the list of predicate offenses in the federal wiretap statute. If the provisions sunset, investigators seeking to prevent these kinds of high consequence offenses will no longer be able to use wiretaps to do so.
Section 203(b) and (d)-Criminal-derived Information Sharing: If this section sunsets, critical foreign intelligence information discovered through wiretaps or other criminal investigative methods cannot be shared from law enforcement investigators to intelligence personnel absent a court order-severely constraining our intelligence agencies' ability to "connect the dots."
Section 206-Roving Wiretaps: Without this authority, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court would be unable to authorize investigators to maintain surveillance when a terrorist or spy engages in a staple of intelligence tradecraft: switching phones and telecommunication providers. Sophisticated terrorists and spies could more easily thwart government surveillance.
Section 207-FISA Surveillance: Section 207 provided an extended duration for certain FISA electronic surveillance and physical search orders and renewals. This small but important change has saved tens of thousands of man-hours since its passage. Moreover, institutional or procedural improvements implemented in reliance on this provision will no longer be available. It is likely that a reversion to the old duration could create a significant disruption in foreign intelligence surveillance.
Section 212-Emergency Disclosure of Information: This section protects Internet service providers (ISP's) that disclose customer records to law enforcement in emergencies involving immediate risk of death or serious physical injury. This provision has been critical in situations involving bomb threats, rescuing both children and an elderly lady who had been kidnapped, and reaching out to individuals who have made suicide threats. This provision has saved lives.
Sections 214 and 215-Pen Registers and Business Records: If these provisions expire, the preexisting authorities to request pen registers and orders to disclose business records would be virtually useless in the great majority of terrorism investigations.
Section 218-Breaking Down "The Wall": Expiration would create immediate uncertainty about the legality of information sharing, coordination, and cooperation between national security and law enforcement personnel. While some activities may continue to be permissible under other provisions of law, the practical impact could be an end to such cooperation while an assessment is made of what is and is not permissible, reversing the progress that has been made in this area since September 11, 2001.
Section 220-Nationwide Search Warrants: If this provision expires, federal judges will no longer be able to issue nationwide search warrants (i.e. allow a judge to issue warrants for searches to be conducted outside his district) to obtain unopened e-mails stored on an ISP's computer server, greatly hampering certain investigations involving large ISP's.
Section 6001 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act
of 2004-The "Lone Wolf" Provision: Investigators' ability to use FISA's
investigative tools to pursue individual terrorists intending to commit
acts of international terrorism was added after the USA PATRIOT Act but
was tied to the Act's sunset provision, and this authority will expire
on December 31, 2005 unless it is reauthorized.
December 22, 2005
President Pledges to Work with Congress to Re-Authorize Patriot Act
December 21, 2005
President Urges Senate to Reauthorize Patriot Act and Pass Defense
Bill
December 17, 2005
President's Radio Address
December 16, 2005
President Calls on U.S. Senate to End Filibuster of the Patriot Act
December 14, 2005
President Commends House for Reauthorizing the Patriot Act
July 20, 2005
President Encourages Renewal of Patriot Act Provisions
July 20, 2005
Fact Sheet: Giving Law Enforcement the Tools They Need to Safeguard
Our Homeland
April 20, 2004
President Bush: Information Sharing, Patriot Act Vital to Homeland
Security
April 19, 2004
President Bush Calls for Renewing the USA PATRIOT Act
April 19, 2004
Fact Sheet: President Bush Calls for Renewing the USA PATRIOT Act