Don't extend Patriot Act without changes

Reprinted from the Orange County Register

The House this past Thursday adjourned for its week-long Memorial Day recess leaving uncertain the fate of three provisions of the USA Patriot Act scheduled to expire June 1.

Sen. John McCain, the Arizona, Republican, told CNN on Friday that he expects the House to interrupt its recess “for a few hours” to pass a short-term extension of the expiring provisions.

“I think,” said McCain, “one thing we all are in agreement in (is) we can’t shut down the entire operation.”

But no one is talking about repealing the entire Patriot Act — save for maybe Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican, who spent 10 and a half hours on the Senate floor last week inveighing against the controversial law.

But there are many lawmakers, in both chambers of Congress, and on both sides of the aisle, who think Sections 206, 215 and 6001 ought to be revised, if not allowed to expire.

Section 206 authorizes “roving” wiretaps under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act without a named target or specific device to be tapped; Section 6001 is a “lone wolf” provision that allows surveillance of foreigners with no known ties to terror groups. Both are problematic.

But Section 215, which authorizes collection of phone records if they are “relevant” to a national security case, is by far the most odious of the expiring provisions.

Both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations have taken an extremely expansive view of what may be considered relevant.

That has given the National Security Agency and other government agencies license to collect so-called “metadata” on untold millions of Americans — without warrants and without probable cause to believe that those monitored are in any way involved in terror-related activities.

Defenders of Section 215 suggest that America will be more vulnerable to terror attack if the provision is allowed to lapse. But a report Thursday by the Justice Department’s inspector general suggests otherwise.

From 2004-09, said Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the FBI tripled its use of bulk collection. Yet, he said, “The agents we interviewed did not identify any major case developments that resulted from use of records obtained in response to Section 215 orders.”

The House last week passed the USA Freedom Act, which does not altogether outlaw collection of metadata, but would at least require a court order based on probable cause before the NSA, FBI or other government agency could access phone and other records.

We don’t expect that revision of Section 215 to be included in whatever short-term extension of the Patriot Act’s expiring provisions the House and Senate work out by June 1. But changes absolutely should be included in any longer-term extension approved by lawmakers.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this editorial do not necessarily reflect those of the Cheney Free Press.