Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act

The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, which will give the government broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information.

The Center for Public Integrity has obtained a draft, dated January 9, 2003, of this previously undisclosed legislation and is making it available in full text (12 MB). The bill, drafted by the staff of Attorney General John Ashcroft and entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, has not been officially released by the Department of Justice, although rumors of its development have circulated around the Capitol for the last few months under the name of “the Patriot Act II” in legislative parlance.
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NOW with Bill Moyers
Transcript: Bill Moyers interviews Chuck Lewis

MOYERS: Chuck Lewis, whom you just saw in that piece is with me now. He is the Executive Director of the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, the organization responsible for obtaining that document. Chuck Lewis, thank you for joining us.

LEWIS: Thank you.

MOYERS: The Patriot Act was passed six weeks after 9/11. We know now that it greatly changed the balance between liberty and security in this nation's framework. What do you think — what's the significance of this new document, called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003?
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The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003

The original USA Patriot Act allowed the government to do many bad things. It resulted in the government having the power to spy on Americans without so much as probable cause or a search warrant. It led a court — a secret court that issues rulings that cannot be appealed by anyone except the government — to rule that the Fourth Amendment isn't really all that important after all.

John Ashcroft wasn't done. He was just getting warmed up. He is now just finishing up the draft for "Patriot Act II", officially known as the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003. The full text of DSEA-03 is available from the Center for Public Integrity. This new law, Patriot Act II, would give the government "broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement perogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information," says the Center for Public Integrity in this article.

The legislation would allow the Justice Department to "detain" anyone secretly indefinitely, at least until an indictment is secured against the person. It would make it a crime to reveal the identity — or even existance — of such a detainee. The legislation would also allow the government to take away an American citizen's citizenship if they joined a "terrorist" organization — or even supported a terrorist organization!
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