Question of the Week: Patriot Act

These questions are culled from phone calls, letters, faxes and e-mails sent to Rep. Gallegly's Camarillo, Solvang, and Washington offices. Each week Rep. Gallegly adds another question and answer. Please add your comments.

May 27, 2011

Question: How did you vote on extending the PATRIOT Act?

Answer: After the terrorist attacks of September 11^th, it became clear that the laws regulating gathering intelligence needed to be updated. Those laws were written in the 1970s at a time when we were involved in the Cold War with the then-Soviet Union. The laws were focused on nations – not individuals. Therefore the outdated laws did not adequately protect us from terrorists who are not associated with a particular country.

Further, the laws did not allow intelligence personnel to adequately monitor terrorists who use modern methods of communications, such as the Internet and cell phones.

The PATRIOT Act, which I strongly supported, gives law enforcement and intelligence officials the tools they need to help protect Americans from terrorist attacks. The Act passed Congress with strong bipartisan support in October 2001, and was signed by President Bush on October 26, 2001.

However, to ensure that we maintain an appropriate balance between national security interests and civil liberties, Congress established sunset provisions for three sections of the bill to ensure that Congress periodically reviews intelligence activities to safeguard constitutional rights.

These temporary sections are:

• The so-called "lone wolf" provision, which allows intelligence officials to obtain court orders to monitor non-U.S. citizens who engage in international terrorism, even if these non-citizens are not associated with a particular terrorist group or foreign government.
• The roving wiretap provision, which allows court-ordered wiretaps to monitor a terrorist even when he or she changes phones.
• The provision that allows federal authorities to ask a judge to authorize searches of certain business records, including telephone records and credit reports.

Since the PATRIOT Act was first enacted, these provisions have been extended several times, but were set to expire on at midnight on May 26. The Senate passed S. 990, which extends the three expiring provisions until June 1, 2015, by a vote of 72-23 and the House of Representatives passed it, with my support, by a vote of 250-153, just hours before the provisions were set to expire. President Obama signed it into law soon thereafter. Congress will revisit these provisions before they expire again in four years.

For more information on my positions on home security issues, please see my Terrorism issues page.

For previous Questions of the Week chronologically and by topic, please see my Questions of the Week page.