Bob Chapman writes: “Passed in furious haste, our Congress has handed us what will be the largest secret police in history. A new anti-terrorism law that lays new foundations, which strips Americans of their most basic rights under the Constitution. It allows a domestic intelligence-gathering system of unprecedented scale and technological prowess, according to both supporters and critics of the legislation. There will be unrestrained Internet surveillance and roving wiretaps.
“This USA Patriot Act is anything but Patriotic. The law empowers the government to shift the primary mission of the F.B.I. from solving crimes to gathering domestic intelligence. The Treasury Department has been charged with building a financial intelligence-gathering system whose data can be accessed by the CIA. The CIA will have the authority for the first time to influence FBI surveillance operations inside the US and to obtain evidence gathering by federal grand juries and criminal wiretaps. The FISA allows the FBI to carry out wiretaps and searches that are unconstitutional. The effort will be to gather intelligence, not evidence. That is to continually spy on American citizens as long as they deem it is for a significant purpose.
“This law and the Department of Homeland (Fatherland) Security strip us of all our personal protection under the Constitution. This is what our elected representatives have given us. They should all be thrown out of office and this horrendous legislation should be reversed. …
“A new secret court exists in the Justice Department established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which approves wiretapping, warrants and searches related to foreign intelligence operations within the US. There is essentially no judicial process and zealous pursuit will eventually allow interruption of the lives of any American who disagrees with the government.”