Written before the Commission was approved:
Reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act
Passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, the USA PATRIOT Act facilitates information sharing among law enforcement and intelligence agencies, provides greater authority to track and intercept communications, and allows for tools used in other criminal enquiries to be employed in counterterrorism investigations.13 Several authorities provided under the law are temporary measures that will expire or "sunset" in December 2005 unless reauthorized by Congress.
Since its inception, the act has been a subject of controversy. Despite the fact that there have been no documented instances of abuse, critics complain that the law allows for undue infringements on civil liberties.
In contrast to the public debate, both the commission's staff and witnesses testifying during public hearings have reaffirmed the importance of the law in improving national counterterrorism operations while also finding no specific faults with checks and balances provided in the law to ensure that law enforcement authorities are properly employed. A staff statement prepared by the commission concluded that the act "has provided additional investigative tools and has lowered or removed legal hurdles that were widely believed to have hindered the FBI's intelligence investigations."14
In addition, witnesses from both sides of the political aisle praised the act's value. Former Attorney General Janet Reno lauded the act: "[G]enerally everything that's been done in the PATRIOT Act has been helpful, I think, while at the same time maintaining the balance with respect to civil liberties"15 Attorney General John Ashcroft offered that:
[T]he USA PATRIOT Act tore down this wall between our intelligence and law enforcement personnel in 2001.... [T]he PATRIOT Act extended powers in the fight against terror that were already well-understood powers in the fight against drugs and organized crime, so that we weren't treading down new constitutional territory.16
And Larry Thompson of the Brookings Institution noted:
I recall reading just recently some comments by Senator Dianne Feinstein in which she said there's been a great deal of concern and angst and misinformation about the PATRIOT Act. She said that she called the office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and asked the ACLU to provide her of any instance of an abuse by the Department of Justice of the PATRIOT Act.... And the ACLU told her they were not aware of any abuse, any instance of the law being misapplied.... The point is, that with respect to the PATRIOT Act, I believe that there has been a great deal of misinformation.17
Based on its own research and expert testimony provided in public hearings, the 9/11 Commission should offer a strong endorsement of the PATRIOT Act. The commissioners ought to encourage Congress to reauthorize the powers that are due to sunset in 2005. Among these are the very provisions that brought down the "wall" in the first place. As the most recent 9/11 hearings have made clear, transnational terrorist threats will continue for years to come. In 2006, the U.S. will still need the powers of the PATRIOT Act to protect Americans.18
Anyone know if this came out to be true in the commission report?
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Hom...nse/bg1778.cfm