Reply #4: exactly right

[onenote]

Lets review what the "new" provisions actually do: they don't create the first federal police force or a new federal police force; they grant the Secret Service no new significant expansion in power (and to the extent there is an expansion, it applies not just to the uniformed division, but to the secret service in general as well as to any law enforcement official with authority to enforce violations of federal criminal law). Is a new “Gestapo” being created. Only in the fantasies of bloggers who don’t seem to realize that when they dream up this bullshit they undermine the credibility of those of us who are trying to point out the real problems with the Patriot Act.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=201297#209673

As for the concern about "NSSEs":

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=243359