An Unholy Alliance of Tea Party Republicans, joined by Democrats, yesterday defeated a brief extension of the Patriot Act through December 8, 2011. A gleeful Nancy Pelosi, happy at the defeat of a measure supported by President Obama, issued a one-word news release. "Disarray?" LV Congressman Charlie Dent, who supports an extension, believes The Patriot Act provides important tools in the war against terror.
“By encouraging greater cooperation between domestic law enforcement agencies and our nation’s sophisticated intelligence community, these provisions have provided homeland security officials with the capabilities they need to protect the American people from terrorist attacks,” Dent said in a news release.
When enacted in 2001, the mission of the USA PATRIOT Act was to provide appropriate government officials the authority and tools to track, arrest and prosecute terrorists who sought to harm Americans. The three provisions reauthorized in H.R. 514 are amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 (P.L. 95-511), the statutory framework for lawful intelligence activities.
Provisions set to expire at the end of the month currently give the FBI the ability to seek Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court approval to access tangible items connected to individuals involved in foreign intelligence or terrorism cases, and use multipoint wiretaps, which help officials keep pace with terrorists who use numerous communications devices to avoid detection. The bill also reauthorizes a provision that modifies the definition of an “agent of a foreign power” to include a foreign terrorist working as a so-called "lone wolf" – an individual who may not have a formal affiliation with a foreign state or terrorist organization.
In early 2010, the U.S. House extended these provisions for an additional year. President Obama's administration supported the 2010 and the proposed extension now, stating they provide “authorities that our nation's intelligence and law enforcement agencies need to protect our national security.”
