By Ronald KesslerIn large part because of the enactment of the USA Patriot Act, we have not had a successful terrorist attack since 9/11. But with key provisions of the act set to expire, Democrats are seeking to weaken the law under the guise of protecting civil liberties.
The Patriot Act removed the wall - real and imagined - between criminal investigations and intelligence gathering so that leads could be shared between agencies and within them. Before the law was passed, an FBI agent following intelligence leads could not share his knowledge with other agents working the same case on the same squad if those agents were pursuing a criminal case.
The Patriot Act allowed the FBI to wiretap a terrorist regardless of what phone he used. Incredibly, before passage of the Patriot Act, the FBI could employ what are known as roving wiretaps in organized crime or drug trafficking cases, but it could not use them in terrorism cases.
Before passage of the Patriot Act, if a terrorist switched from a home phone to a disposable cell phone or a pay phone, the FBI would have to reapply for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) order, a process that took weeks. In the meantime, the terrorist likely would have changed phones.
Since each roving wiretap has to be approved by a judge, there is no more question of infringing on civil liberties than when a judge approves a search of the house of a suspected child molester. It is a question of making it at least as easy for the FBI to do its job as it is for a terrorist to do his. [more...]
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