EDITOR’S NOTE: What follows is a letter to Congress from the newly formed Coalition for Security, Liberty and the Law, representing dozens of leaders in law enforcement, the legal community, think tanks, and public opinion. The debate over the Patriot Act typically focuses on its opponents–lead, most prominently, by the American Civil Liberties Union. This new coalition aims to change that–so that people who appreciate the contribution the Patriot Act is making to American security are heard.
23 September 2004
The Honorable Dennis Hastert
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Minority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Bill Frist
Majority Leader
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Tom Daschle
Minority Leader
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Orrin Hatch
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Patrick Leahy
Senate Judiciary Committee
Washington, D.C.
The Honorable James Sensenbrenner
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee
Washington, D.C.
The Honorable John Conyers
House Judiciary Committee
Washington, D.C.
Dear Leaders:
We write to express our strong support for the USA Patriot Act and concern about misinformation about the necessary legal tools it provides to battle al-Qaeda and our other terrorist enemies. Vital sections of the Patriot Act, such as information-sharing provisions, will expire in 2005. For the security and safety of the American people, no provision of the Patriot Act should expire. Moreover, the temporary provisions should be made permanent.
Since its nearly unanimous passage in October 2001, the Patriot Act has played a key–and often the leading–role in successful operations to thwart terrorists dedicated to
destroying America and our culture. In passing the Act, Congress extensively debated the commonsense updates in the law and provided safeguards for civil liberties.
For example, the Patriot Act allows investigators to use tools that had been available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking. As Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) explained during floor debate, “[T]he FBI could get a wiretap to investigate the mafia, but they could not get one to investigate terrorists. To put it bluntly, that was crazy! What’s good for the mob should be good for terrorists.”
The Patriot Act also removed major legal barriers that prevented the law enforcement, intelligence, and national defense communities from coordinating information. Now police officers, FBI agents, federal prosecutors and intelligence officials can protect our communities by “connecting the dots” to uncover terrorist plots before they are completed. Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) declared when he voted for the Act, “[W]e simply cannot prevail in the battle against terrorism if the right hand of our government has no idea what the left hand is doing.”
The Act made the law current with modern technology. We no longer have to fight a digital-age battle with antique legal weapons left over from the era of rotary telephones. When investigating the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, for example, law enforcement used one of the Act’s new high-tech authorities to identify and locate some of the killers.
Before September 11, 2001, 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 police.
Before September 11, law enforcement could more easily obtain business and financial records of white-collar criminals, such as nursing home scammers, than of suspected terrorists. It was easier to chase a money trail involving a white-collar criminal than one involving a terrorist. The Act ended this double-standard. Importantly, the Patriot Act still requires the government to ask a judge for a court order to do so.
Before September 11, federal judges could impose tougher prison terms on drug traffickers than on terrorists. The Act strengthened penalties for crimes committed by terrorists, such as arson or attacks on power plants and mass transit systems.
After the Act was passed, terrorist cells were dismantled in Oregon, New York, North Carolina and Virginia. Terrorists were prosecuted in California, Ohio, Texas and Florida. In other words, the Patriot Act’s tools are protecting us. Terrorist funds–$200,000,000–have been frozen or seized. We’re cutting off their money. We’re following the money.
Further, Congress built into the Act strict and structured oversight of the Executive Branch. Every six months, the Justice Department must report to Congress about its activities under the Act. Justice Department officials have testified on the Patriot Act and other homeland security issues scores of times.
The government’s success to date in preventing another catastrophic attack on the American homeland since September 11, 2001, would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, without the USA Patriot Act. The authorities Congress provided have substantially enhanced the ability of our law enforcement and intelligence officials to prevent, investigate, and prosecute acts of terror. It is an essential law that provides for checks and balances while enabling the government to fight what will, no doubt, be a challenging and prolonged war against terrorists determined to kill us and destroy our society.
It has been our experience that when people understand the specific provisions of the USA Patriot Act, as opposed to the inaccurate rhetoric, the most frequent reaction is surprise that most of what is in the Act was not already law. That is why, for the safety of the American people, we ask that no provision of the Patriot Act be allowed to expire and the temporary provisions be made permanent.
Sincerely,
Dr. Mark Albrecht, former Executive Secretary, White House National Space Council
Morris J. Amitay, Esq., Vice Chair, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Robert Andrews, former Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict
Stewart Baker, former General Counsel, National Security Agency, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Dr. Thomas G. Barnes, Professor History & Law, University of California, Berkeley
William Barr, former Attorney General
William Bennett, former Secretary of Education and Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Host “Morning in America,” nationally syndicated radio show and Washington Fellow: The Claremont Institute
Bradford A. Berenson, former Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush and Co-Founder of Citizens for the Common Defence
Robert Bork, former acting Attorney General, Solicitor General and Circuit Court of Appeals Judge
Dr. Stanley C. Brubaker, Professor of Political Science, Colgate University
Carl M. Buchholz, former Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security
Chuck Canterbury, National President, Fraternal Order of Police
Frank Cilluffo, former Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security
Judge William Clark, former National Security Council Advisor, Former Secretary of the Interior
Robert J. Cleary, former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey and Southern District of Illinois
Dr. William R. Van Cleave, Department Head, Defense & Strategic Studies Department, Southwest Missouri State University
Barbara Comstock, former Director of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice
Cesar V. Conda, former Assistant for Domestic Policy to Vice President Cheney
Joseph E. diGenova, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
Viet Dinh, former Assistant Attorney General
Robert D. Eaglet, Major General, USAF (Ret), former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Air Force
Richard A. Falkenrath, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Homeland Security Advisor
Vincent E. Falter, Major General, USA (Ret)
Alice Fisher, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Frank Gaffney, former Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense and President of the Center for Security Policy
Todd Gaziano, Director, Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Fred Gedrich, former State and Defense Department Official
Rudolph Giuliani, former U.S. Attorney and Mayor of the City of New York
C. Boyden Gray, former White House Counsel and Co-Chairman of FreedomWorks
Steven J. Greer, Command Sergeant Major, US Army, (Retired)
Charles A. Hamilton, former Director for Strategic Trade Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense
Mark Holman, former Deputy Assistant to the President for Homeland Security
Dr. Robert Kaufman, Pepperdine University School of Public Policy
Jack Kemp, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Co-Chairman of FreedomWorks
Bernard Kerik, former New York Police Commissioner
Robert Khuzami, former Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of New York
Edward Koch, former New York City Mayor and Partner, Bryan Cave, LLP
Frederick J. Kroesen, Gen – USA (Ret)
Paul J. Larkin, Jr., former Acting Director of the Criminal Investigation Division of the EPA Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics, and Training
Seth Leibsohn, Executive Director-Americans for Victory Over Terrorism
Dr. Peter Leitner, GMU National Center for Biodefense
Mark R. Levin, former chief of staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese
Dr. Douglas Macdonald, Colgate University
Heather Mac Donald, Manhattan Institute
Cliff May, President of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Andrew C. McCarthy, former Prosecutor, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
Honorable Tidal W. McCoy, former Acting Secretary of the Air Force
Edwin Meese, former Attorney General
Larry A. Mefford, former FBI Executive Assistant Director, Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence
C. Preston Noell III, President, Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Theodore B. Olson, former Solicitor General of the United States
Duane A. Parde, Executive Director of the American Legislative Exchange Council
Jim Pasco, former Assistant Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Dr. Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr., Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of International Security Studies, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Oliver “Buck” Revell, former Associate Deputy Director for Investigations, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Paul Rosenzweig, Heritage Foundation
Edward L. Rowny, former Ambassador and Lieutenant General USA Retired
Gary Schmitt, Executive Director, Project for the New American Century
William Schneider, Jr., former Under Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State
Kalev I. Sepp, Assistant Professor of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School
Dr. Dennis Showalter, Professor of History, Colorado College
Ron Silver, Actor and former president of Actors’ Equity
Dr. Joseph M. Skelly, Professor of History, College of Mount Saint Vincent
George J. Terwilliger III, former Deputy Attorney General
The Honorable Fred Thompson, Former Senator
Larry Thompson, former Deputy Attorney General
Richard Thornburgh, former Attorney General and Governor of Pennsylvania
Victoria Toensing, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General
George V. Vinson, former California Director of Homeland Security under Governor Gray Davis
William F. Weld, former Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division and Governor of Massachusetts
R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence