THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 19, 2004
Fact Sheet: President Bush Calls for Renewing the USA PATRIOT Act
Also Urges Congress to Close Loopholes in Other Anti-Terrorism Laws
Today
's Presidential Action
Ø The President traveled to Hershey, Pennsylvania today to address the
importance of the USA PATRIOT Act with local and state officials.
Ø The President called for Congress to renew all parts of the USA
PATRIOT
Act that are scheduled to expire next year. Before 9/11, barriers
prevented
counterterrorism officials from communicating effectively with one
another.
The USA PATRIOT Act brought down the artificial wall separating law
enforcement and intelligence officers and allowed them to talk to
each other
as they work to prevent future attacks.
Ø The President also called upon Congress to close existing legal
loopholes
that deny law enforcement officials the same tools to fight terror
that they
have to fight other crime. These include:
o Using administrative subpoenas, enabling law enforcement
officials
to obtain certain time-sensitive records more quickly ? a legal tool
already used in civil and criminal matters such as healthcare
fraud cases;
o Establishing a presumptive denial of bail in terrorism
cases -- a
legal tool currently used against drug dealers, which will ensure
that the
law does not allow suspected terrorists to be released before
trial; and
o Allowing the death penalty for terrorist crimes that
result in
death. This would close a legal loophole that enables some
sexual abuse
and drug-related offenses that result in death to qualify for the
death
penalty ? but not some terrorism crimes that result in the death of
innocents.
Background on Today's Presidential Action
Ø Before September 11, law enforcement, intelligence, and national
security
officials were prevented by legal and bureaucratic restrictions from
sharing
critical information with each other ? and with state and local law
enforcement officials. These restrictions made it much more
difficult to get
a complete picture of the terrorist threats ? preventing law
enforcement from
having all the pieces of the puzzle in one place.
Ø By passing the USA Patriot Act, we removed those barriers ? and
now, the
law enforcement and intelligence communities are working together as
never
before. The USA PATRIOT Act was passed with overwhelming
bi-partisan support
by the Senate 98-1, and 357?66 by the House of Representatives.
Ø The USA PATRIOT Act has played a key role in a number of successful
operations to protect innocent Americans from terrorists. In
passing the USA
PATRIOT Act, Congress provided for measured changes in the law. But
these
changes have enabled the Federal Government to better track terrorists,
disrupt their cells, seize their assets, and share more information with
state and local law enforcement.
o The USA PATRIOT Act facilitates information sharing and
cooperation among government agencies so that they can better
"connect the
dots." The Act removed barriers that prevented the law enforcement,
intelligence, and national defense communities from coordinating
their
work to protect the American people and our national security.
Now FBI
agents, Federal prosecutors, and intelligence officials can
protect our
communities by "connecting the dots" to uncover terrorist plots
before
they are completed while respecting constitutional rights.
o The Act allows law enforcement to conduct investigations
without
tipping off terrorists. If criminals are tipped off too early to an
investigation, they are likely to flee, destroy evidence,
intimidate or
kill witnesses, cut off contact with associates, or take other
actions to
evade arrest. Therefore, Federal courts in narrow circumstances
have long
allowed law enforcement to delay for a limited time notifying a
subject
that a judicially-approved search warrant has been executed. The USA
PATRIOT Act codified the procedures for obtaining these warrants,
which
require court approval. Notice is always provided, but with
reasonable
delay, enabling law enforcement to identify the criminal's
associates,
eliminate immediate threats to our communities, and coordinate
the arrests
of multiple individuals without tipping them off beforehand.
Ø The USA PATRIOT Act uses proven law enforcement methods in new
ways to
reflect new technologies and new threats. The Act brought the law
up-to-date
with the new technologies actually used by terrorists, so America no
longer
has to fight a digital-age battle with outdated legal authorities.
o Roving wiretaps ? in which a wiretap authorization
attaches to a
particular suspect, rather than a particular communication device
? have
been used by law enforcement for years to investigate ordinary crimes
including drug offenses and racketeering. The USA PATRIOT Act
authorized
the same techniques in national-security investigations. This
provision
has enhanced the government's authority to monitor sophisticated
international terrorists and intelligence officers, who are
trained to
thwart surveillance, such as by rapidly changing cell phones,
just before
important meetings or communications.
o Before September 11, law enforcement could more easily
obtain the
business and financial records of white-collar criminals than of
suspected
terrorists. The USA PATRIOT Act ended this double standard ?
making it
easier for investigators to catch suspected terrorists by
following their
paper trail.
o Before the USA PATRIOT Act, federal judges could impose
tougher
prison terms on drug traffickers than they could on terrorists.
Now, the
penalties for crimes committed by terrorists have been strengthened.
Ø The USA PATRIOT Act gives investigators the tools, such as roving
wiretaps and delayed-notification search warrants, which are needed
to stop
terrorists before they strike, fulfilling America's duty to win the
War on
Terror and never forget the lessons of September 11, 2001. The USA
PATRIOT
Act has not diminished our liberty ? it has defended our liberty and
made
America more secure. Congress must renew the USA PATRIOT Act and take
further steps to improve our ability to fight terror within the United
States.
_______________________________________________
Politech mailing list
Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Apr 19 2004 - 20:44:57 PDT