FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed the final
report of the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, noting that the successor
organization to the 9/11 Commission did not call for a further expansion of the
Patriot Act. Congress is currently working to pass legislation to reauthorize
provisions of that law that are scheduled to "sunset," or expire, at the end of
this year.
"Congress must take note that the findings do not call for a further erosion
of the Bill of Rights by expanding the Patriot Act," said Caroline Fredrickson,
Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Indeed, the 9/11
Commissioners’ main concerns with the Patriot Act focused on distribution of
funding for homeland security. As Congress works to reauthorize and hopefully
fix the Patriot Act, we urge lawmakers to take steps to ensure that America is
both safe and free."
In a final "report card" issued by the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, the
former 9/11 Commission gave the "balance between security and civil liberties" a
B grade, noting that "The debate surrounding reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act
has been strong, and concern for civil liberties has been at the heart of it.
Robust and continuing oversight, both within the Executive and by the Congress,
will be essential." The ACLU agreed that while debate on the issues has been
strong, oversight and disclosure by the government on the use of the Patriot Act
has remained inadequate and certainly does not warrant such a grade.
For example, in recent weeks, it has been discovered that the FBI has issued
tens of thousands of National Security Letters (NSLs), a secretive power
expanded by the Patriot Act to gather private records about Americans without
any connection between the records sought and suspected foreign terrorist. These
NSLs are issued unilaterally by the FBI -- without the approval or review of
independent judge-- and can now be used to obtain some of our most private and
sensitive records, including Internet and financial transactions.
The final report also slammed the lack of steps taken to create a strong and
functional Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and the implementation of
guidelines for the government sharing of personal information. Both of these
measures were included in the legislation that restructured the nation’s
intelligence agencies.
The Commissioners also noted that the government has failed to improve
airline passenger pre-screening. The ACLU and its allies from across the
political spectrum have had strong objections and concerns with the proposed
Secure Flight screening program, noting that it would unnecessarily intrude on
the privacy of air passengers without enhancing security.
The report card also touched on the issue of the standardization of secure
identification cards. Early this year, Congress approved the REAL ID Act, which
imposes federal standards on state identification documents. The ACLU and other
privacy advocates noted that this created a de facto national ID card
that would threaten the privacy of innocent Americans facilitate government
surveillance of their activities.
"Too many of the steps taken since 9/11 only give a false sense of security
and create a true threat to civil liberties," Fredrickson added. "Without
substantive corrections as well as meaningful oversight and --better
transparency and disclosure-- America will be ceding our Bill of Rights to
fear."
To read the final report of the 9/11 Public Discourse Project,
go to:
http://www.9-11pdp.org/press/2005-12-05_report.pdf
