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 C R I M E S    A G A I N S T    H U M A N I T Y


The 9-11 bombings Are Not Acts of War

The 9-11 bombings Are Crimes Against Humanity


the focus is:
"PATRIOT" Act II
Also known by its 9 January 2003 draft title:
“Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003”
This agenda was never enacted into law however
its scope would have vastly increased USG powers
while reducing judical oversight of those powers.
See Also: USA `Patriot' Act of 2001


Contents


WASHINGTON, February 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.
Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act
Charles Lewis, Adam Mayle, Center for Public Integrity, 7 Feb 2003



"On February 7 [2003], Charles Lewis, head of the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, received a secret, but not classified, Justice Department draft of a bill that would expand the already unprecedented government powers to restrict civil liberties authorized by the USA Patriot Act. This new bill is called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003. Lewis, in an act of patriotism -- since this still is a constitutional democracy -- put the 86-page draft on the center's Web site . . . Section 201 would overturn a federal court decision that ordered the Bush administration to reveal the identities of those it has detained (imprisoned) since 9-11. . . . Under the proposed Ashcroft bill reversing that court decision, for the first time in U.S. history, secret arrests will be specifically permitted. . . . In Argentina, those secretly taken away were known as `the disappeared.'

[The phenomenon of disappearances is considered a crime against humanity by the Statute for the International Criminal Court: "`Enforced disappearance of persons' means the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time."]

        "Section 501 of the blandly titled Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, an American citizen can be stripped of citizenship if he or she `becomes a member of, or provides material support to, a group that the United States has designated as a ``terrorist organization,'' if that group is engaged in hostilities against the United States.' . . . What this section of the bill actually means is that if you provide `material support' to an organization by sending a check for its legal activities -- not knowing that it has been designated a `terrorist' group for other things it does -- you can be stripped of your citizenship and be detained indefinitely [or deported to any country that agreed to take you] as an alien. While South Africa was ruled by an apartheid government, certain activities of the African National Congress were categorized as `terrorist,' but many Americans provided support to the legal anti-apartheid work of that organization.
        "Under Section 302 of John Ashcroft's design for our future during the indefinite war on terrorism, there is another change in our legal system. Under current law, the FBI can collect DNA identification records of persons convicted of various crimes. But under the USA Patriot Act II, the `Attorney General or Secretary of Defense' will be able to `collect, analyze, and maintain DNA samples' of "suspected terrorists.' And as Georgetown law professor David Cole notes -- `mere association' will be enough to involve you with suspected terrorist groups. What does `association' mean? For one thing, `material support,' under which you could lose your citizenship."

--Nat Hentoff, "Ashcroft Out of Control - Ominous Sequel
to USA Patriot Act," Village Voice, 2/28/03


    | Top |

    Local copy of `Patriot' Act II
    aka the "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003"
    draft - 9 January 2003:   HTML   |   text-only
    See Also: Analysis of Patriot Act II

    All draft sections are hyperlinked to their analysis portion (which links to the Bill's text section) and indented to better approximate their appearance in the original pdf document:

      Title I -- Enhancing National Security Authorities
      Subtitle A: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments
      Sec. 101.  Individual Terrorists as Foreign Powers.
      Sec. 102.  Clandestine Intelligence Activities by Agent of a Foreign Power.
      Sec. 103.  Strengthening Wartime Authorities Under FISA.
      Sec. 104.  Strengthening FISA's Presidential Authorization Exception.
      Sec. 105.  Law Enforcement Use of FISA Information.
      Sec. 106.  Defense of Reliance on Authorization.
      Sec. 107.  Pen Registers in FISA Investigations.
      Sec. 108.  Appointed Counsel in Appeals to FISA Court of Review.
      Sec. 109.  Enforcement of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Orders.
      Sec. 110.  Technical Correction Related to the USA PATRIOT Act.
      Sec. 111.  International Terrorist Organizations as Foreign Powers.
      Subtitle B: Enhancement of Law Enforcement Investigative Tools
      Sec. 121.  Definition of Terrorist Activities.
      Sec. 122.  Inclusion of Terrorist Activities as Surveillance Predicates.
      Sec. 123.  Extension of Authorized Periods Relating to Surveillance and Searches in Investigations of Terrorist Activities.
      Sec. 124.  Multi-function Devices.
      Sec. 125.  Nationwide Search Warrants in Terrorism Investigations.
      Sec. 126.  Equal Access to Consumer Credit Reports.
      Sec. 127.  Autopsy Authority.
      Sec. 128.  Administrative Subpoenas in Terrorism Investigations.
      Sec. 129.  Strengthening Access to and Use of Information in National Security Investigations.

      Title II -- Protecting National Security Information
      Sec. 201.  Prohibition of Disclosure of Terrorism Investigation Detainee Information.
      Sec. 202.  Distribution of "Worst Case Scenario" Information.
      Sec. 203.  Information Relating to Capitol Buildings.
      Sec. 204.  Ex Parte Authorizations Under Classified Information Procedures Act.
      Sec. 205.  Exclusion of United States Security Requirements from Gross Income of Protected Officials.
      Sec. 206.  Grand Jury Information in Terrorism Cases.

      Title III -- Enhancing Investigations of Terrorist Plots
      Subtitle A: Terrorism Identification Database
      Sec. 301.  Short Title.
      Sec. 302.  Collection and Use of Identification Information from Suspected Terrorists and Other Sources.
      Sec. 303.  Establishment of Database to Facilitate Investigation and Prevention of Terrorist Activities.
      Sec. 304.  Definitions.
      Sec. 305.  Existing Authorities.
      Sec. 306.  Conditions of Release.
      Subtitle B: Facilitating Information Sharing and Cooperation
      Sec. 311.  State and Local Information Sharing.
      Sec. 312.  Appropriate Remedies with Respect to Law Enforcement Surveillance Activities.
      Sec. 313.  Disclosure of Information.
      Subtitle C: Facilitating International Terrorism Investigations
      Sec. 321.  Authority to Seek Search Warrants and Orders to Assist Foreign States.
      Sec. 322.  Extradition Without Treaties and for Offenses Not Covered by an Existing Treaty.

      Title IV -- Enhancing Prosecution and Prevention of Terrorist Crimes
      Subtitle A: Increased Penalties and Protections Against Terrorist Acts
      Sec. 401.  Terrorism Hoaxes.
      Sec. 402.  Providing Material Support to Terrorism.
      Sec. 403.  Weapons of Mass Destruction.
      Sec. 404.  Use of Encryption to Conceal Criminal Activity.
      Sec. 405.  Presumption for Pretrial Detention in Cases Involving Terrorism, Firearms, Explosives, or Serious Violent Felonies.
      Sec. 406.  "Mass Transportation Vehicle" Technical Correction.
      Sec. 407.  Acts of Terrorism Transcending National Boundaries.
      Sec. 408.  Postrelease Supervision of Terrorists.
      Sec. 409.  Suspension, Revocation, and Denial of Certificates for Civil Aviation or National Security Reasons.
      Sec. 410.  No Statute of Limitations for Terrorism Offenses.
      Sec. 411.  Penalties for Terrorist Murders.
      Subtitle B: Incapacitating Terrorism Financing
      Sec. 421.  Increased Penalties for Terrorism Financing.
      Sec. 422.  Money Laundering Through Hawalas.
      Sec. 423.  Suspension of Tax-Exempt Status of Designated Terrorist Organizations.
      Sec. 424.  Denial of Federal Benefits to Terrorists.
      Sec. 425.  Corrections to Financing of Terrorism Statute.
      Sec. 426.  Terrorism-Related Specified Activities for Money Laundering.
      Sec. 427.  Assets of Persons Committing Terrorist Acts Against Foreign Countries or International Organizations.
      Sec. 428.  Technical and Conforming Amendments Relating to the USA PATRIOT ACT.

      Title V -- Enhancing Immigration and Border Security
      Sec. 501.  Expatriation of Terrorists.
      Sec. 502.  Enhanced Criminal Penalties for Violations of Immigration and Nationality Act.
      Sec. 503.  Inadmissibility and Removability of National Security Aliens or Criminally Charged Aliens.
      Sec. 504.  Expedited Removal of Criminal Aliens.
      Sec. 505.  Clarification of Continuing Nature of Failure-to-Depart Offense, and Deletion ofProvisions on Suspension of Sentence.
      Sec. 506.  Additional Countries of Removal.

"Against a backdrop of perpetual war, it's hard to imagine that Congress will put up much of a fuss over Patriot II. Who could vote against better domestic security? Here are some of the more unsettling proposals:

"At no point in this sequence is the Bush/Ashcroft notion of legal process distinguishable from Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Saddam, or any other despot one cares to name. The only difference is the frequency of usage, and that's the next step: particularly given the bellicosity of Bush foreign policy, soon to be on display in Iraq and Palestine, future major terrorist crimes on American soil are a virtual certainty. Israel, a much smaller, much more militarized, and far more experienced country, cannot prevent them; there is no reason to expect the U.S. can, either.
        "When that happens, the public and political outrage will be the impetus that allows these sweeping measures [of PATRIOT II] to be implemented more broadly. The laws will already be on the books and found meritous, more often than not, by 20 years of conservative court appointees. . . .
        "All in all, the only individuals whose behavior is earning them the title of people officially at war with the United States -- and all it has stood for -- work in the Bush Administration itself. The Congressional Republicans, and Democrats, who might well support such legislation deserve to be deluged by public outcry. Tell them it's an affront to liberty and democracy. Tell them it's unpatriotic. Tell them the Domestic Surveillance Enhancement Act of 2003 is positively Un-American."

--Geov Parrish, "The Police State Enhancement Act of 2003," workingforchange.com, 2/10/03



Crimes Against Humanity contents:
List of Titles
Quotations
Further Reading On the Web



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