Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
At the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing On the Misuse of Patriot
Act Powers
As Prepared for Delivery
March 21, 2007
Today the Committee – and the country – will have the opportunity
to revisit a particularly flawed piece of legislation that was passed
shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
I am referring, of course, to the USA Patriot Act. The National Security
Letter, or NSL, authorities were dramatically expanded by Sections
358 and 505 of the Patriot Act. Unfortunately, in its haste to pass
this flawed legislation, Congress essentially granted the FBI a blank
check to obtain some very sensitive records about Americans, including
people not under any suspicion of wrong-doing, without judicial approval.
So it is not surprising that the Justice Department’s Inspector
General has identified serious problems with the implementation of
these broad authorities. Congress gave the FBI very few rules to follow.
As a result, Congress shares some responsibility for the apparently
lax attitude and in some cases serious misuse of these potentially
very intrusive authorities by the FBI.
This Inspector General report proves that “trust us”
doesn’t cut it when it comes to the government’s power
to obtain Americans’ sensitive business records without a court
order and without any suspicion that they are tied to terrorism or
espionage. It was a grave mistake for Congress to grant the government
broad authorities and just keep its fingers crossed that they wouldn’t
be misused. We have the obligation, the responsibility, to put appropriate
limits on government authorities – limits that allow agents
to actively pursue criminals and terrorists, but that also protect
the privacy of innocent Americans.
Congress needs to exercise extensive and searching oversight of those
powers, and it must take corrective action. The Inspector General
report has shown both that current safeguards are inadequate and that
the government cannot be trusted to exercise those powers lawfully.
Congress must address these problems and fix the mistakes it made
in passing and reauthorizing the flawed Patriot Act.
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