May 4, 2004 Letter to Representative Moran
PO Box 8208
Alexandria, VA 22306-8208
May 4, 2004
The Honorable James P. Moran
U.S House of Representatives
2239 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4608
As your constituent, I urge you to oppose the “Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Tools Improvement Act of 2003” (HR 3179). This bill would enhance the government’s secret power to obtain personal records without judicial review, limit judicial discretion over the use of secret evidence in criminal cases and allow the use of secret intelligence wiretaps in civil cases without notice or an opportunity to suppress illegally acquired evidence. If passed, it would be a major and unwarranted expansion of the government’s secret surveillance powers under the USA PATRIOT Act.
This legislation would strictly punish Americans for refusing to obey secret “national security letters” that allow the FBI to get your personal records without going through a judge. The FBI currently has the secret power to obtain — without court oversight and without any need to show evidence that the individual is actually involved in criminal activity — a long and growing list of highly personal records from a wide range of businesses. These can include travel agents, casinos, Internet cafes and credit reporting agencies. This bill provides for criminal penalties for failure to comply with the FBI, or for breaking the strict gag order on the government request. For example, if an Internet cafe owner complained at a local chamber of commerce meeting about a broad FBI national security letter, he could face a prison term under this bill.
This bill ties judges’ hands in preventing the misuse of secret evidence, which cannot be properly challenged by the accused. Today, when prosecutors worry about compromising national security by introducing classified information as evidence in regular trials, they can apply to the judge for permission to submit a summary of the information. The judge has the discretion to consider the government’s request in secret or to hold an open hearing. This new legislation would force judges to consider the government’s request in secret even if the judge would prefer to hold an open hearing so the accused can properly respond to the accusations.
As a Marine veteran who served to protect Americans from the scourge of Communist tyranny, I am troubled immensely by this bill’s adoption of the tactics of totalitarian regimes. I am deeply concerned that this bill broadly expands the use of secret intelligence surveillance as evidence in civil cases. Prosecutors can already use intelligence surveillance in regular courts. However, because the surveillance is gathered without criminal probable cause or other safeguards, they have to give the accused a chance to challenge this evidence (which a judge then reviews behind closed doors to see if it was gathered illegally). If this bill passes, we could see the unfair deportation of innocent, long-term legal residents of the United States because they were unable to challenge the misleading and illegal national security surveillance that was secretly used against them.
Once again, I urge you to oppose HR 3179. This legislation would be a major and unwarranted expansion of the government’s secret surveillance powers under the USA PATRIOT Act.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this important matter.
Sincerely,
James Landrith
June 2, 2004
Mr. James Landrith
PO Box 8208
Alexandria, Virginia
22306-8208
Dear Mr. Landrith:
Thank you for contacting me concerning the Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Tools Improvement Act (H.R. 3179).
As you may know, the Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Tools Improvement Act (H.R. 3179) was introduced on September 25, 2003 by Representative Sensenbrenner. If enacted, this legislation would implement a number of the sections included in the Justice Department’s draft release of the PATRIOT Act II bill. These provisions range from increasing the penalties for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act to allowing the Attorney General to invoke the aid of any U.S. court to compel an individual who refuses to release their personal records.
Since implementation of the PATRIOT Act, I have had serious concerns with a number of provisions in the PATRIOT Act and by the overly broad way in which they have been interpreted by Attorney General Ashcroft. For these reasons and my concerns about this specific bill’s unintended effects, I cannot support H.R. 3179 because it would further expand the PATRIOT Act at a time when proper oversight of the Justice Department is not being exercised, Be assured that I will keep your comments in mind and continue to closely monitor this legislation should it come before the full House for consideration.
Please feel free to visit my updated website at http://www.house.gov/moran that contains information on topics that may be of interest. Thank you again for contacting me.
Yours truly,
James P. Moran
JPM/int2