- Times are tense. Our politicians trade strident accusations
about everything from budget deficits to intelligence failures. Our troops
face daily dangers overseas. And always, we live with the threat posed
by terrorists who want to kill as many Americans as quickly as they can.
-
- So, let's not go out of our way
to worry needlessly, the way so many misguided souls who are hyperventilating
over the U.S.A. Patriot Act are.
-
- On its Web site, the American
Library Association warns, "sections of the U.S.A. Patriot Act are
a present danger to the constitutional rights and privacy rights of library
users."
- Michigan's state librarian, Christie
Pearson-Brandeau, told the Detroit Free Press, "We worry about the
FBI coming in and demanding to know who checked out what books and visited
what sites on library computers."
-
- And on Jan. 16, the Concord Monitor
reported the following exchange between Democratic presidential candidate
Dennis Kucinich and some elementary school students:
- " 'If the FBI says, We want
Jimmy Smith's library list, then the librarian has to give them that list
without telling Jimmy Smith.' 'No way' a student hollered. 'Yes, way,'
Mr. Kucinich replied."
-
- Well, not quite "way."
-
- Mr. Kucinich should know the
most important aspects of the U.S.A. Patriot Act only apply to terrorist
investigations, which should put Jimmy Smith's mind at ease.
- Of course, before the Patriot
Act, the government would have needed both to obtain a warrant and to show
probable cause a crime had been committed before it could look at most
financial records, library records, phone logs, etc. Now, under Section
215 of the Patriot Act, if the government is involved in an authorized
investigation of international terrorism " and only under such circumstances
" it needs simply a judge's warrant to see those records.
-
- This makes sense. Before September
11, there were too many restrictions on the FBI's intelligence gathering.
For example, federal agents wanted to search the laptop belonging to Zacarias
Moussaoui after his arrest in August 2001. But they were denied a warrant,
based on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that was then in effect.
-
- If the agents had been able to
search Mr. Moussaoui's hard drive, they would have found a flight simulator
computer program, software describing the Boeing 747 and extensive information
about crop dusters.
-
- Today, under the Patriot Act,
they would be able to conduct that search, and possibly save lives, without
violating Mr. Moussaoui's civil rights.
-
- But while the Patriot Act gives
the government important " and limited " new powers, it is actually
being applied only rarely. For example, despite all the complaints from
librarians, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced last fall that the
federal government has never used Section 215 to search library records.
Not once. It's difficult to understand how Section 215 could be considered
abusive of rights when it has never been used.
-
- But instead of being glad the
law is being judiciously applied, the American Library Association's executive
director said the lack of warrants proves the law isn't needed. "They
have demonstrated that there is no need to change the tradition of protecting
library patrons' reading records," Emily Sheketoff sniffed.
-
- Wrong. What the federal government
has actually done is prove it won't abuse Section 215. But the fact it
has never been used doesn't prove it's not needed. As in the Moussaoui
case, there may well come a time when we need information, and we'll be
glad we can get it with a judge's warrant.
-
- We should keep a careful eye
out to make sure the Patriot Act isn't abused, just as we should keep a
careful eye on everything the federal government does. But many librarians
are stressing out over nothing. Next time, they should do a little research
before they get worked up over a sensible reform.
-
- Ed Feulner is the president of
the Heritage Foundation.
-
-
- All site contents copyright © 2004 News World Communications,
Inc.
-
- http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20040214-112851-5354r.htm
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