http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3166310Former GOP lawmaker urges scaleback of Patriot Act
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A former Republican congressman urged lawmakers today to limit the government's ability to search for evidence without immediately telling the investigation's target, a part of the USA Patriot Act that Congress is reconsidering.
ADVERTISEMENT
While sections of the Patriot Act expire this year, the law's national standards for what are sometimes known as "sneak and peek" searches are permanent.
Still, former GOP Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia told a House Judiciary subcommittee that lawmakers should scale back the delayed notification warrant provision inside the Patriot Act anyway.
Barr said he and other critics understand that sneak and peek warrants are legal and necessary in the battle against terrorism. But the government's usage of them in other areas needs to be limited "to ensure that they remain the exception, not the norm," he said.
Supporters of the provision said such concerns were overblown. "If delayed notification is the threat it was made out to be, we would have heard of abuses by now," said Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute.
The delayed notification statute is one of the few parts of the Patriot Act that the GOP-controlled House has voted against since the initial passage of the anti-terrorism law following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York City.
The House voted in 2003 to block it, but that provision never became law.
The law permits agents to search the home of a suspected drug dealer, or plant a listening device in the car of a reputed mobster, or copy a computer hard drive of a terror suspect, without notifying the suspect until a later date. That prevents suspects from escaping, destroying evidence or tampering with witnesses, supporters say.
more...
Its amazing that Bob Barr would be asking for this signs that GOP'ers are fighting amongst themselves!!! and I agree Bob we never should have passed that stupid Patriot Act thingy!!!
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
