The effort to find an effective balance between homeland security and civil rights has proved a complicated and important issue in this election season. The controversial USA Patriot Act passed in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 is a particularly complicated aspect of this debate.
This 342-page law greatly expands the authority of law enforcement agencies to investigate terrorist activities. Critics say the law allows law enforcement officers to engage in such "sneak and peak" activities as wiretapping and investigating library records of innocent citizens without judicial oversight.
Proponents of the Patriot Act say that it merely gives law enforcement officers the same resources to investigate terrorism that they've been using to investigate drugs cases and organized crime for years.
Candidates' varying positions on the Patriot Act have been one of the points of debate in the campaigns this year.
Presidential race
The Patriot Act is currently set to expire at the end of 2005. In the first presidential debate, President George W. Bush said it's "vital that the Congress renew the Patriot Act which enables our law enforcement to disrupt terror cells."
Sen. John Kerry has been less vocal about the issue. Although he originally voted for the law in 2001, he has supported efforts to revise and limit certain provisions of the Patriot Act. He has also said that his biggest problem with the Patriot Act is not necessarily the law itself, but the way it has been used by Attorney General John Ashcroft, though he cited no specific examples.
Senate race
Democratic incumbent Ron Wyden originally supported the Patriot Act. Since then, however, he has cosponsored a bill attempting to rollback some of its provisions and make others more strict.
"Right now, the executive branch has greater powers to pursue potential enemies to the U.S. than at any time since World War II -- powers granted in the days immediately following a terrible attack on this country's soil," said Wyden in a news release. "With almost two years' perspective on the Sept. 11 tragedy, I believe that Congress has an opportunity and a duty to strike a more proper balance between security and civil liberties."
Challenger Al King, a Republican, says he supports the Patriot Act as an important tool in protecting Americans from terrorism, though he admits it may need revision to protect civil liberties.
"The Patriot Act should be continued if revised so that all rights afforded by the Constitution remain intact for American citizens," he said on his Web site. "We are a constitutional republic and the rule of law must always be upheld."
Congressional race
Peter DeFazio, the Democratic incumbent for the Fourth Congressional District, was one of 66 representatives to vote against the Patriot Act. In addition, he was involved in several failed attempts to repeal certain provisions of the Patriot Act.
"Attorney General Ashcroft thinks we need to shred the Constitution and Bill of Rights to safeguard the American public from terrorists," said DeFazio in a news release. "I couldn't disagree more. Secret, warrant-less searches through library and bookstore records put our constitutional freedoms at risk. We won't win the war on terrorism by putting our civil liberties at risk."
Republican challenger Jim Feldkamp, a former FBI agent, has personal experience using the Patriot Act provisions in the hunt for international terrorists.
"It just raised the level of the law to catch up to the level of technology the criminals use," he said. Feldkamp added that the Patriot Act still provides for "strong judicial oversight" in the investigation of terrorists.
Feldkamp referenced a specific instance when he was investigating a suspect with connections to Hamas who was funneling large amounts of money to fund terrorist activities.
"Because of the Patriot Act, I was able to ask the Treasury Department for help," he said.
The Treasury Department sent out a mass e-mail to financial institutions across the world to find out with which banks the suspect had an account.
When the Treasury Department reported that the suspect had more than 80 bank accounts, Feldkamp said he still had to go to a judge and get a separate subpoena for each individual bank account in order to pull the records.
gabebradley@dailyemerald.com
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