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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: ACLU Mandy Simon, (202) 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org |
Senator Leahy Introduces Bill To Amend Patriot Act
Previously Introduced JUSTICE Act Offers More Civil Liberties Protections, Says ACLU
WASHINGTON - September 22 - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) today introduced legislation to amend sections of the Patriot Act that are due to expire on December 31 and limit the controversial and problematic library records and national security letter provisions of the Act.
Today’s
proposed legislation comes on the heels of an alternative bill
introduced last week by Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the
Constitution Chairman Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Judiciary
Committee member Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) also aimed at fixing the
Patriot Act. That bill, the JUSTICE Act, would not only amend the
provisions beyond the three that are set to expire this year, but would
insert privacy and civil liberties safeguards into each section of the
Patriot Act, the FISA Amendments Act and other overly broad
surveillance laws.
The
American Civil Liberties Union testified about the Patriot Act today
before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil
Rights and Civil Liberties. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold
its own hearing on Wednesday.
The following can be attributed to Michael Macleod-Ball, Acting Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:
“Any
attempt to narrow the scope of the Patriot Act should be commended, and
Senator Leahy deserves credit for taking that action. We look forward
to working with the committee to incorporate into legislation some of
the more comprehensive reforms in the JUSTICE Act. Time is of the
essence given the upcoming expiration date for key Patriot Act
provisions, and Congress should act quickly to engage in meaningful
debate and enact serious reform.”
For more information on the ACLU’s work on the Patriot Act, go to: www.reformthepatriotact.org
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4 Comments so far
Show AllThis means there'll be another "attack" before December 31st., so that there'll be no amendments to the so-called Patriot Act.
This is just like what happened with the Anthrax attacks in 2001.
I hope Leahy this time is trying to draw the terrorists fire deliberately to catch the people responsible for 9/11 and the anthrax attacks in planning another attack, but stopping it in time.
Watch the markets. Follow the money. It'll lead to the guilty. Watch Fox. They'll set up the patsies for the sheeple to blame before the attack happens.
The next terrorist attack will happen as soon as "9/11" stops succeeding in destroying our liberties and freedoms.
12/25/09
See. The "Christmas Day Underwear Bomber". Right on cue.
Senators Push Obama To Hand Over Christmas Day Bomber To The DOD
February 1, 2010 by Personal Liberty News Desk
The chairman and the top ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee have demanded that the Obama administration transfer Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to military custody.
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Adviser John Brennan, Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT.) and Susan Collins (R-ME.) wrote that Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the failed Christmas Day airline bombing, needs to be treated as an unprivileged enemy belligerent (UEB) and charged accordingly.
http://www.personalliberty.com/news/senators-push-obama-to-hand-over-christmas-day-bomber-to-the-dod-19582506/
http://tinyurl.com/ydtasdj
1/27/10
Terror Suspect Kept Visa To Avoid Tipping Off Larger Investigation
Nathan Hurst / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington --The State Department didn't revoke the visa of foiled terrorism suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab because federal counterterrorism officials had begged off revocation, a top State Department official revealed Wednesday.
Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab's visa wasn't taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would've foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaida threats against the United States.
"Revocation action would've disclosed what they were doing," Kennedy said in testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security. Allowing Adbulmutallab to keep the visa increased chances federal investigators would be able to get closer to apprehending the terror network he is accused of working with, "rather than simply knocking out one solider in that effort."
The committee's hearing continues a series across Capitol Hill that started last week, all looking into the events leading up to and after the attempted bombing of Flight 253 over Detroit. Law enforcement officials say Abdulmutallab tried to detonate an explosive hidden in his underwear on board the flight from Amsterdam shortly before its landing at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus on Christmas Day.
Since the failed attack, criticism has swirled around leaders of the U.S. intelligence community who have indicated they were warned by the suspect's father about a month before the flight of a potential terror threat, but failed to stop Abdmutallab, despite other warning signs like the fact that he purchased a one-way ticket to Detroit with cash.
Politicians have also criticized the decision to treat Abdulmutallab as a civilian after the arrest in Michigan, with Miranda rights being read to him after less than an hour of interrogation and without input from the intelligence community.
Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, the only Michigan House member on the Homeland Security Committee, said in a Tuesday statement that she planned to question officials on that matter at today's hearing.
nhurst@detnews.com (313) 222-2300
-from The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100127/NATION/1270405/Terror-suspect-kept-visa-to-avoid-tipping-off-larger-investigation
http://tinyurl.com/y8kb3x6
ghandighost- right out of the playbook for manipulating
the masses. and the uninformed will have a teabag party blissfully and angrily unaware that they have been played
again. the alarm clock for social conscience will never
go off in the us as most are too busy shopping!