Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Seeks to Rein in Abuses of PATRIOT Act

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From the office of Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) on her amendnent to the PATRIOT Act, originally passed in 2001.

Continuing its consideration of the USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009 (H.R. 3845), the House Judiciary Committee yesterday passed on a voice vote an amendment offered by Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) to further rein in abuses of the 2001 PATRIOT Act and restore constitutional checks and balances.

H.R. 3845 reauthorizes, until December 31, 2013, two sections of the 2001 PATRIOT Act, but adds important modifications designed to balance the government's need to conduct valuable national security investigations and the protection of Americans' privacy interests.  It also allows the controversial so-called "Lone Wolf" provision, which the Justice Department testified has never been used, to sunset at the end of this year.

The Baldwin amendment expresses the sense of Congress that the President should periodically review the level of classification of programs that make use of national security letters or the authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to determine if such programs can be declassified, in whole or in part, without interfering with an ongoing investigation or otherwise threatening national security.

"I firmly believe that whenever programs under FISA can be declassified, they should be," said Baldwin, who strongly opposed the PATRIOT Act when it passed Congress in 2001. "I question whether certain 'top secret' programs really need to be classified as such. My amendment makes clear that Congress feels these programs should be debated in the light of day whenever possible," Baldwin said.

Our nation's security classification and declassification policies and procedures have largely been prescribed in a series of presidential executive orders. These executive orders -– most recently Executive Order 13292 signed by President Bush in 2003 -– actually set out a structure for declassifying or "downgrading" top secret, secret, or classified materials.  This includes a systematic declassification review to be conducted by each agency that has originated classified information.

Baldwin's amendment is consistent with these executive orders and reaffirms that the government should provide the American public with information about these programs as soon as possible while safeguarding our country's legitimate security secrets.

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