Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is urging Attorney General Eric Holder to perform additional safeguards on Patriot Act provisions. In a letter sent to Holder on March 17, 2010, Leahy says civil liberties and oversight protections could still be implemented despite not being included in the one year reauthorization of three provisions in February. “Even without Congressional action,” Leahy wrote, “the administration could still take steps to increase accountability and privacy measures.”
Not released until mid April, Leahy’s letter said, “The one-year extension should not become an excuse to defer implementation of the important civil liberties and enhanced accountability provisions…that received the support of the Administration. We should work together to ensure that these important accountability provisions are realized without delay,” Leahy said.
Additional privacy protections were included in the reauthorization bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee in October 2009, but was never voted on by the full Senate. Safeguards included new reporting requirements when using certain surveillance measures and calls for notifying Congress when the lone wolf provision is used. The use of National Security Letters (NSLs) by the FBI to obtain individuals’ records without a court order was also targeted by the Committee. In early 2010, a Department of Justice report found the FBI improperly obtained records using NSLs.
“We now know that the National Security Letter authority was significantly misused,” Leahy said. “That is why I fought hard to retain a sunset for National Security Letters in our legislation, in addition to an audit. It is important that there be increased accountability for this authority,” he added