CDT POLICY POST Volume 10, Number 16, October 4, 2004

A Briefing On Public Policy Issues Affecting Civil Liberties Online
from
The Center For Democracy and Technology

(1) Senate Amendments Propose PATRIOT 2, Threaten Civil Liberties
(2) Background: 9/11 Commission Legislation Has Serious Implications
for Privacy and Civil Liberties
(3) What Should -- and Should Not -- Be Part of the Intelligence
Reform Legislation
_______________________________________________

(1) Senate Amendments Propose PATRIOT 2, Threaten Civil Liberties

Today, the U.S. Senate begins voting on amendments to legislation to
reform the intelligence agencies. Two amendments in particular
threaten civil liberties. Both are sponsored by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ).

The Senate intelligence reform legislation would create a Civil
Liberties Board in the Executive Branch of the federal government to
oversee counter-terrorism programs that have implications for privacy
or free speech. The Senate bill also would create Privacy and Civil
Liberties Officers in various federal agencies that handle personal
information. Together, these two mechanisms could provide important
checks on government overreaching.

One of Senator Kyl's amendments would weaken the proposed Civil
Liberties Board and would remove the provision creating Privacy and
Civil Liberties Officers. The amendment goes against one of the key
recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which is that we need a
cross-agency oversight board to protect privacy and civil liberties
in an age of greater information sharing and powerful new
technologies. CDT believes that the provisions under attack by Sen.
Kyl must be part of any legislation to implement the 9/11
Commission's report.

CDT Letter Opposing the Kyl Amendment to Gut the Civil Liberties
Board: http://www.cdt.org/security/patriot2/20041001cdt.pdf

Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) has also introduced an amendment to the Senate bill
that would expand the USA PATRIOT Act with a variety of new powers,
including giving the FBI so-called "administrative subpoena"
authority, meaning that FBI agents could demand paper and electronic
documents without judicial approval.
A broad coalition of public interest groups from across the political
spectrum is opposing the Kyl PATRIOT 2 amendment.

* Right-Left Coalition Letter Opposing Kyl "Patriot 2" Amendment:
http://www.cdt.org/security/patriot2/20041001coalition.pdf
________________________________________________

(2) Background: 9/11 Commission Legislation Has Serious Implications
for Privacy and Civil Liberties

Under the pressure of election year politics, both the House and
Senate are considering legislation to reform the nation's
intelligence agencies. In the process, privacy and other civil
liberties are at risk.

The legislation is intended more or less to implement the
recommendations of the commission that studied the intelligence
failures associated with the 9/11 attacks. The bipartisan commission
issued its best-selling report on July 22, 2004. Immediately, some
politicians called for swift adoption of the Commission's
recommendations, which include the establishment of a National
Intelligence Director and the creation of a government-wide
information sharing capability.

The Senate bill has been reported by Committee and is pending on the
Senate floor, to be voted on this week. The House will take up its
bill on Wednesday, October 6. The Senate bill addresses only issues
raised by the 9/11 Commission, but the House bill extends far beyond
the scope of the Commission's report.

* 9/11 Commission Report: http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/index.htm
* Senate Bill, S. 2845 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:s.02845:
* House Bill, H.R. 10
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.00010:
_____________________________________________________

(3) What Should -- and Should Not -- Be Part of the Intelligence
Reform Legislation

The legislation to implement the recommendations of the 9/11
Commission should do just that - and no more. Yet the House bill
contains many controversial provisions that are well outside the
scope of the Commission's report. Among the far-reaching proposals in
the House bill that were not recommended by the 9/11 Commission is
the creation of a de facto national identification card based on
requiring states to link together all of their drivers license
databases. While CDT has long argued that identification documents
need to be made more secure, we should not - and need not - create a
national ID card.

The House bill does contain a provision creating Privacy and Civil
Liberties Officers, but it does not include the Civil Liberties Board
that can look at issues that cut across agencies, such as information
sharing and watch lists.

Lacking from both bill at this point is a clear prohibition against
the CIA and defense intelligence agencies engaging in covert
operations in the United States.

Information sharing is an important issue that CDT believes is
unquestionably an important part of intelligence reform. The Senate
bill is intended to promote information sharing and bring it within a
framework of transparency, guidelines and accountability. CDT
believes that the Senate language should be maintained and clarified
to make it clear that the system could be used only for
counter-terrorism purposes and that major implementation will not
occur until after Congress has had a chance to review the
Administration's plan and privacy guidelines.
_____________________________________________________

Detailed information about online civil liberties issues may be found
at http://www.cdt.org/.

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Policy Post 10.16 Copyright 2004 Center for Democracy and Technology

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