Lone Wolf provision of Patriot Act

[Fredrick Lindner]

Today on the usuall AM talk radio show, the host completely glossed over the Lone Wolf Provision and argued to pass all provisions of the Patriot Act.

 

Below are some of the reasons apposed to the Lone Wolf Provision.  Granted I can't find more resources I believe the Lone Wolf Provision is relitively useless and strongly over-reaches the federal governments authority.  The Lone Wolf Provision has not been used once by the Federal Patriot Act and thus has no track record of success or failure.  Therefore why have such power remain with the Federal Government?

 

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/11/05/house-panel-defies-obama-on-patr...

quote from source.  "In an act of uncharacteristic defiance of President Obama, the House Judiciary Committee voted today 16-10 to remove the “lone wolf” section of the USA PATR...."

 

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10607

quote from source.  "The court clearly saw the involvement of a "foreign power" as providing the distinction between the world of the criminal law's Fourth Amendment protections and the hazy arena where the executive enjoys far greater latitude. The "lone wolf" provision recklessly blurs that line, defying the common sense meaning of an "agent of a foreign power," and giving investigations that belong in the first world a dubious statutory foothold in the second."

 

[Randy B Corporon]

Fred:  It was great to meet you at the last meeting and election of our new Chairwoman.  I have a deep respect for your extensive and tireless efforts for this group and for the Republican Party.

I am also a big fan of the Cato Institute but, on this issue, I lean toward renewing ALL provisions of the Patriot Act.  The nature of the enemy, radical Muslim extremists who play only by one rule: "you and as many other innocents as possible die, they win," is such that I am willing to give extraordinary surveillance powers in terrorism-related investigations to the federal government.

There have been at least 36 known terrorist attacks foiled since 9/11.  Section 6001 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, i.e., The Lone Wolf Provision, allows law enforcement to track non-U.S. citizens acting alone to commit acts of terrorism that are not connected to an organized terrorist group or other foreign power. The only real difference between this provision and long-standing investigation practices is that law enforcement does NOT have to establish that the lone suspect is an "agent of a foreign power" prior to surveilling.

The implementation and utilization of the Patriot Act has been refined over the almost 10 years since its origination, and is subject to oversight by the FISA court and Congress.  I have read or heard of no outcry over abuses of this police tool.

The preamble to the US Constitution reminds us of one of the most important reasons for a federal government to accomplish for the whole republic what the individual states cannot do for themselves, that is to provide for the common defense.  When I am provided some examples of Americans being harmed by this hyper-vigilence against an enemy whose own death is part of their reward for killing as many of us and our children as possible, then I may reconsider my position that the 4th Amendment is not in play when discussing counter-terrorism against foreigners.

[Fredrick Lindner]

Thanks Randy

 

I was not sure of the text of the section regarding the Lone Wolf Provision.  I was having difficulty finding the actual provision and thus refered to comments made my groups that I know of.  As for the reference of 36 disrupted attempts, not one used the provision.  The Lone Wolf Provision has not been used once.  There-fore there has been no tract record of success in regards to this provision.  The affect of an out, is that many and all subject non-US citizens that may draw attention can readily be associated with a foreign terrorist group through metric analysis, thus allowing for FISA to grant survellience.  Think of this provision in logical terms.  A tourist or foreign student with no relation to a terror group or foreign power comes to the US and randomly plots a terrorist act?  How in all of the Federal Governments capabilities would they be able to couter such actions?  The same aurgument on gun control has been used by the left for years.  The left wants to stop random weapons fire at public places, so they want to outlaw all guns to stop it. 

 

The overall purpose of the forum was to provide the other side of a highly debated public policy since the host of the show provided only his biased opinion.

Randy B Corporon said:

Fred:  It was great to meet you at the last meeting and election of our new Chairwoman.  I have a deep respect for your extensive and tireless efforts for this group and for the Republican Party.

I am also a big fan of the Cato Institute but, on this issue, I lean toward renewing ALL provisions of the Patriot Act.  The nature of the enemy, radical Muslim extremists who play only by one rule: "you and as many other innocents as possible die, they win," is such that I am willing to give extraordinary surveillance powers in terrorism-related investigations to the federal government.

There have been at least 36 known terrorist attacks foiled since 9/11.  Section 6001 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, i.e., The Lone Wolf Provision, allows law enforcement to track non-U.S. citizens acting alone to commit acts of terrorism that are not connected to an organized terrorist group or other foreign power. The only real difference between this provision and long-standing investigation practices is that law enforcement does NOT have to establish that the lone suspect is an "agent of a foreign power" prior to surveilling.

The implementation and utilization of the Patriot Act has been refined over the almost 10 years since its origination, and is subject to oversight by the FISA court and Congress.  I have read or heard of no outcry over abuses of this police tool.

The preamble to the US Constitution reminds us of one of the most important reasons for a federal government to accomplish for the whole republic what the individual states cannot do for themselves, that is to provide for the common defense.  When I am provided some examples of Americans being harmed by this hyper-vigilence against an enemy whose own death is part of their reward for killing as many of us and our children as possible, then I may reconsider my position that the 4th Amendment is not in play when discussing counter-terrorism against foreigners.

[Fredrick Lindner]

Maybe I should clarify the above stated comments in a more precise and define statement.  I think most of the Patriot Act is good.  The 9-11 Review did a thorough and intense study to find the deficiencies in our intelligence agencies and national security.  The Patriot Act filled many vital rolls in closing gaps that needed fixed to secure our nation.  Hurray!  Now let us take a really good look at provision 6001 which came about in 2004.  Also known as the lone wolf provision 6001 states that: “The provision amends FISA's definition of "agent of a foreign power" to include any person, other than a U.S. person, who "engages in international terrorism or activities in preparation therefore."  Well what does that mean?  Has FISA performed a review to establish a well defined scope of what defines a Non-US Person and a US person?  This provision was either written by a child with no legal understanding or it was written that way to be understood as so vague as can be used to mean anything.

 

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/patriotact/patriotactprovisions.html

Quote from the source.  “The 'Lone Wolf' Provision, Section 6001 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 allows intelligence investigations of lone terrorists not connected to a foreign nation or organization.

While not part of the Patriot Act, this provision also sunsets on Dec. 31 and is under review. Civil liberties groups say the provision could sweep in protesters and those suspected of involvement in domestic terrorism. Language passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee would make this section permanent.”

 

http://apps.americanbar.org/natsecurity/patriotdebates/lone-wolf

Quote from the source.  “The lone wolf provision is often referred to as the "Moussaoui fix.' Although it had been floating around previously, the amendment came to the forefront only after the attacks of September 11, 2001, when the misperception took hold that FISA's requirements prevented the FBI from gaining access to a computer used by Zacharias Moussaoui, who was alleged at one time to be the 20th hijacker. In fact, the problem was not with the FISA statute but with the FBI's misinterpretation of the statute. This conclusion is supported by the findings of the Joint Congressional Intelligence Committee Inquiry into the 9/11 Attacks, an exhaustive Senate Judiciary Committee inquiry, and the 9/11 Commission.”

 

IMHO the provision, well intentioned as it is, needs some rework.

Fredrick