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Cities in revolt over Patriot Act« Thread Started on May 22,

Daily newsbrief journal for May 2004, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


Cities in revolt over Patriot Act« Thread Started on May 22,

Postby admin » Thu Jan 26, 2012 7:43 am

Cities in revolt over Patriot Act« Thread Started on May 22, 2004, 11:52pm »--------------------------------------------------------------------------------From The Washington Times, 1/4/04:http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040104-113441-7305r.htmCities in revolt over Patriot ActBy Audrey HudsonTHE WASHINGTON TIMESThe number of Americans coming under scrutiny of the Patriot Act isgrowing significantly, and so is the number of Americans calling onCongress to repeal or modify the law.Hundreds of city and county governments across the nation last yearinitiated the grass-roots effort by passing resolutions declaring theywould not cooperate with the federal government in enforcing the law,which they claim undermines civil liberties.Those voices grew louder last week when the nation's oldest andlargest national group of elected municipal government officials, theNational League of Cities (NLC), passed a resolution at its annualmeeting calling for Congress to repeal parts of the act."Cities and towns need a partnership with the federal government onhomeland security issues that makes sure we have the resources we needto get the job done but also preserves the liberties that Americanshold dear," Charlie Lyons, NLC president and Arlington, Mass.,selectman, said in a written statement.The NLC members represent 18,000 cities with 225 million residents.The concerns listed by the NLC mirror those expressed by civilliberties and national librarian organizations, as well as someRepublicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill pushing legislation tooverhaul the act, which became law in the month after the September 11terrorist attacks.Critics question the law's broad powers, such as allowing lawenforcement to perform "sneak and peek" searches without notificationor anyone present, and permitting FBI officials to obtain records fromlibraries while prohibiting librarians from notifying the personsinvolved.Justice Department officials defend the Patriot Act as a needed toolin the war on terrorism, and say criticism of its use is overblown.After the American Library Association last year attacked a provisionallowing the review of library records, Attorney General John Ashcroftdeclassified information to show the act had never been used to lookat library records.The resolution passed by the NLC urges the president and Congress toamend the Patriot Act "to restore and protect our nation's fundamentaland inalienable rights and liberties."The group also cited the following concerns: •The secretary of state is given broad powers to designatedomestic groups as "terrorist organizations" and the attorney generalhas power to subject immigrants to indefinite detention or deportationeven if they have committed no crime. •Public universities are required to collect information onstudents who may be of interest to the attorney general. •Law enforcement officials are given broad access to sensitivemental health, library, business, educational and financial records. Many Americans are encountering the Patriot Act when opening bankaccounts.The law requires financial institutions to run the names of customersthrough the Office of Foreign Asset Control database, which listspeople who are known terrorists or who associate with knownterrorists.New bank customers are asked how many wire transactions they expect tomake each month.If the reply is five or more, the customer would be reported to thefederal government.The Patriot Act also gives the Treasury Department authority to orderfinancial institutions to search private accounts and transactionrecords and report suspicious activity.This information program administered by the Financial CrimesEnforcement Network (FinCEN) is used by federal law enforcementagencies and in 2003 provided data for 64 terrorism financing casesand 124 money-laundering investigations."The program enables federal law enforcement agencies, through FinCEN,to reach out to over 29,000 financial institutions to locate accountsand transactions of persons that may be involved in terrorism or moneylaundering," said a statement posted on FinCEN's Web site.
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