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May 27, 2011

Obama Signs Extension of PATRIOT Act 
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President Obama has signed a law renewing three expiring provisions of
the USA PATRIOT Act shortly following the House's passage of the measure
in a 250-to-153 vote. The provisions empower law enforcement officials
to obtain "roving wiretaps" on suspected foreign agents, track
non-citizen "lone wolves" suspected of terrorism, and obtain certain
business and even library records. The American Civil Liberties Union
criticized lawmakers for passing the provisions without adding the
proper privacy safeguards. The provisions were extended despite a
warning from two Democratic senators that the U.S. Department of Justice
has been secretly interpreting the PATRIOT Act in a way to enable
domestic surveillance activities that many members of Congress do not
even understand. Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, a member of the
Intelligence Committee, accused the Obama administration of relying on a
secret law to expand domestic surveillance.

Sen. Ron Wyden: "Americans know that their government will sometimes
conduct secret operations, but they don't believe the government ought
to be writing secret law. And the reason why we have felt so strongly
about this issue of secret law is that it violates the trust that
Americans place in their government, and it undermines public confidence
in government institutions and agencies, making it harder for them to
operate effectively."



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