Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of
Anti-Terrorism Act
Special Report
Center Publishes Secret Draft of 'Patriot II' Legislation
publicintegrity.org
By Charles Lewis and Adam Mayle
(WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2003) -- 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. |
