Portions of the Patriot Act, passed in the chaotic days after 9/11, are scheduled to expire in 2005. President Bush hit the road yesterday and grossly distorted the reason some of the provisions are scheduled to "sunset." Bush said that Congress designed some provisions to expire in 2005 because of the belief that " href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040419-4.html">maybe the war on terror won't go on very long." The truth: "Lawmakers of both parties...said at the time the Patriot Acts passed that the sunset provision would allow Congress to href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25551-2004Apr19.html">ensure that the administration did not abuse its new power." Meanwhile, even as the president asks Congress to make all provisions in the Patriot Act permanent, Attorney General John Ashcroft has href="http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2002/08/doj072602.pdf">failed to disclose critical information necessary to evaluate how the government uses the law.

ROVING FROM THE TRUTH: President Bush touted the use of roving wiretaps, authorized by Section 206 of the Patriot Act, as an "essential tool" for locking up terrorists. Roving wiretaps allow the government to tap not just an individual phone number but any phone that they believe the target of their surveillance might use. The provision raises serious privacy concerns. As explained in an href="http://www.americanprogress.org/AccountTempFiles/cf/%7bE9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03%7d/STRENGTHENING_AMERICA.PDF">American Progress report, "Section 206 does nothing to require that, as the wiretap 'roves,' the subject is actually present, or even likely to be present at the new location." So if "the location of the surveillance is, for example, a public computer terminal, [roving wire taps] could expose hundreds, even thousands, of innocent people to clandestine surveillance." But last year, when James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and John Conyers (D-MI) asked the Justice Department how roving wiretaps had been used, Acting Assistant Attorney General Jamie Brown responded that the href="http://www.house.gov/judiciary/patriotlet051303.pdf">information was classified. How is Congress supposed to decide whether or not to make the roving wiretap provision permanent if it doesn't even know how it is being used?

DELAYED NOTIFICATION OF THE FACTS: President Bush also praised the effectiveness of " href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040419-4.html">delayed notification search warrants," which are authorized by Section 213 of the Patriot Act. A delayed notification search warrant allows the government to search a home or office and not inform the owner as long as the government believes that doing so would have an "adverse result." The president's comments on this topic are somewhat of a red herring because Section 213 is not scheduled to sunset. Nevertheless, href="http://www.americanprogress.org/AccountTempFiles/cf/%7bE9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03%7d/STRENGTHENING_AMERICA.PDF">serious concerns about the provision persist as the government could argue that disclosing that a search has taken place could have an "adverse result" in nearly every case. The provision has been used hundreds of times – but as of May 13, 2003, it has href="http://www.house.gov/judiciary/patriotlet051303.pdf">never been used to combat terrorism.

SO ESSENTIAL IT HAS NEVER BEEN USED: Bush also urged the extension of one of the most controversial provisions of the Patriot Act – Section 215, which permits the government to more easily obtain "any tangible thing" – a classification so broad it includes "books, records, papers, documents, and other items." That Bush would single this provision out as essential to the war on terrorism is puzzling since, on September 18, 2003 – after insisting for two years the information was classified – John Ashcroft said that the provision had href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/19/national/main569135.shtml">never been used. The Justice Department is href="http://www.cdt.org/security/usapatriot/20040309ashcroft.pdf">now equivocating, saying that Ashcroft's denial only applies to the period before September 18, 2003. But, before Congress decides to make Section 215 a permanent part of the law, it should know if and how it has been used. 

ASKING FOR AN END RUN AROUND THE CONSTITUTION: Bush not only asked for a rubber-stamp approval of all expiring provisions of the Patriot Act, he also asked for certain authorities to be href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040419-4.html">further expanded. His proposal to expand "administrative subpoenas," which allow the government to obtain records and interrogate any witness without any court review. The president claims the government needs this extraordinary power to speed terrorism investigations. But the Department of Justice href="http://www.americanprogress.org/AccountTempFiles/cf/%7bE9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03%7d/STRENGTHENING_AMERICA.PDF">could not even cite a single instance where the existing rules slowed down their efforts against terrorism. Eliminating the judiciary from its fundamental role as a check on executive branch power runs squarely against the Constitution while doing nothing to further the fight against terrorism.