A sensible compromise has ended the Senate logjam over renewal of Patriot Act provisions.* A sensible compromise has ended the Senate logjam log·jam n. 1. An immovable mass of floating logs crowded together. 2. A deadlock, as in negotiations; an impasse. Noun 1. over renewal of Patriot Act Patriot Act: see USA PATRIOT Act. provisions. People who receive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA Noun 1. FISA - an act passed by Congress in 1978 to establish procedures for requesting judicial authorization for foreign intelligence surveillance and to create the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court; intended to increase United States counterintelligence; ) court orders or FBI-issued national-security letters that demand that they turn over business records will be free to consult lawyers without first notifying the government. If they have been told not to disclose those court orders and letters to anyone but their lawyers, they will be free, after one year, to challenge that non-disclosure requirement. The compromise means that the improvements the Patriot Act made--including the end of the "wall" that prevented intelligence agents and criminal investigators from pooling threat information, broader availability of FISA wiretapping A form of eavesdropping involving physical connection to the communications channels to breach the confidentiality of communications. For example, many poorly-secured buildings have unprotected telephone wiring closets where intruders may connect unauthorized wires to listen in on phone and search authority, the sharing of grand-jury information with the intelligence community, and roving wiretaps A roving wiretap is a wiretap specific to the United States that follows the surveillance target. For instance, if a target attempts to trying to defeat surveillance by throwing away a phone and picking up a new phone or by moving or whatever method he would use, another for terror suspects--will be preserved substantially as they were enacted after 9/11. There will be additional oversight to protect civil liberties, some of it helpful, little of it harmful. It looks like most Patriot provisions will be made permanent in early March, with the remainder kept in place for at least four more years. The terrorist threat has not ended. These tools, which have contributed significantly to national security, remain vital. |
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