The “Patriot Act II” coming?

The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, which will give the government broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information.

However, senior members of the Senate Judiciary Committee minority staff have inquired about Patriot II for months and have been told as recently as this week that there is no such legislation being planned.

Some of the key provision of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 include:

• Section 201, “Prohibition of Disclosure of Terrorism Investigation Detainee Information”:
  This proposed legislation would enhance the Government’s ability to deny releasing material on suspected terrorists in government custody through FOIA (Freedom of Information Act).
• Section 202, “Distribution of ‘Worst Case Scenario’ Information”:
  This subtitle would cloud and confuse an established level of transparency between private industry and the public, making it harder to get this type of information.
• Section 301-306, “Terrorist Identification Database”:
  These sections would authorize creation of a DNA database on “suspected terrorists”, expansively defined to include association with suspected terrorist groups, and noncitizens suspected of certain crimes or of having supported any group designated as terrorist.
• Section 312, “Appropriate Remedies with Respect to Law Enforcement Surveillance Activities”:
  This section would terminate all state law enforcement consent decrees before Sept. 11, 2001 that limit such agencies from gathering information about individuals and organizations (except for racial profiling and other “civil rights violations”).
• Section 405, “Presumption for Pretrial Detention in Cases Involving Terrorism”:
  This section will allow suspected terrorists to be held in jail before trail without bail.
  A Justice Department summary memo states “This presumption is warranted because of the unparalleled magnitude of the danger to the United States and its people posed by acts of terrorism, and because terrorism is typically engaged in by groups — many with international connections — that are often in a position to help their members flee or go into hiding.”
• Section 501, “Expatriation of Terrorists”:
  This provision would establish that an Americal citizen could be expatriated if “he becomes a member of or supports a group that the U.S. has designated as a ‘terrorist organization’”.
  Before, a citizen had to state his intent to relinquish citizenship, but now it can be “inferred from conduct”. So engaging in the lawful activities of a group designated as a “terrorist organization” by the Attorney General could be presumptive grounds for expatriation.

To read more on this, Go here [The Center for Public Integrity]. (The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization, was founded by Charles Lewis following a successful 11-year career in network television news.)

That link also has a full copy of the “Patriot Act II”, but in case you’re lazy, I’ve saved it Here as well.