Blog For Arizona

Parts of Patriot Act II Signed Behind Media Smokescreen

Parts of Patriot Act II were signed behind a media smokescreen by Bush. On the same day as Saddam Hussein was captured, a Saturday, Bush signed H.R.2417, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004. This was the first time that Bush has signed on a bill on a Saturday since he signed the budget authorization last year preventing the govenment being shut down.

Little wonder he wanted the bill to be no more than a footnote in the media. § 374 of the bill changes the definition of a financial institution for the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3414). This is an important goal of PATRIOT II, slapped into the intelligence authorization. The result is that the FBI can now use National Security Letters to demand, without a need to demonstrate any probable cause, your financial records from:

- an insured bank
- a commercial bank or trust company;
- a private banker;
- an agency or branch of a foreign bank in the United States;
- a thrift institution;
- a broker or dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission
- a broker or dealer in securities or commodities;
- an investment banker or investment company;
- a currency exchange;
- an issuer, redeemer, or cashier of travelers' checks, checks, money orders, or similar instruments;
- an operator of a credit card system;
- an insurance company;
- a dealer in precious metals, stones, or jewels;
- a pawnbroker;
- a loan or finance company;
- a travel agency;
- a licensed sender of money;
- a telegraph company;
- a business engaged in vehicle sales, including automobile, airplane, and boat sales;
- persons involved in real estate closings and settlements;
- the United States Postal Service;
- an agency of the United States Government or of a State or local government carrying out a duty or power of a business described in this paragraph;
- a state or Indian licensed casino, gambling casino, or gaming establishment with an annual gaming revenue of more than $1,000,000
- any business or agency which engages in any activity which the Secretary of the Treasury determines, by regulation, to be an activity which is similar to, related to, or a substitute for any activity in which any business described in this paragraph is authorized to engage; or
- any other business designated by the Secretary whose cash transactions have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory matters.

The Letters served by the FBI include a gag order, so you never learn about the seizure of your records. The FBI no longer needs to compile reports for Congress accounting for the use of such Letters, either. In fact, there is no need for the FBI to report the use of National Security Letters to seize financial records to anyone outside of the Executive branch.

So, in summation, the FBI can invade every aspect of any American's financial life with no judicial oversight, and no disclosure to you or to Congress. If that is not a recipe for abuse, I don't know what is.

Have we learned nothing about ensuring limited and honest government by setting up checks and balances in 220 years of democracy? This law gives the Executive branch absolute, unchecked power to invade the privacy and seize the financial data and records of every American. You can be sure that the Executive will use this unchecked and secretive power wisely. Right. This isn't just wrong, it's monstrously stupid and asking for Bush and Ashcroft to extend their efforts to treat the American people as the enemies of the State.

posted by Michael Bryan @ 12/29/2003 02:22:00 AM