CIVIL LIBETIES ALERT: Today-- Call Congress
Forwarded from the National Immigration Forum, word that TODAY is the day to speak or be forever unheard on the attempts by Senate "conservatives" to pass a "stealth" combination of CLEAR and PATRIOT II Act provisions as part of a “9/11 Commission Recommendations” bill.
This is the Senate side of the movement in the House to pass a a similar set of anti-Civil Liberties legislations called HR 10 that the ACLU and many other groups have been writing about recently.
I am remembering the few days before the passage of the first PATRIOT Act... desperate to try to alert people with only hours advance notice of the bill’s passage to make a difference.
I just called, and they are still discussing the bill, but I don’t know whether the Kyl Amendment (#3801) has been voted on...
as an individual, Terry
From: "Sivaprasad, Shoba" <ssivaprasad@immigrationforum.org>
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004
Subject: URGENT! Senate to Vote on Amendment that Guts Civil Liberties Oversight TODAY
To: Colleagues interested in Post September 11th Civil Liberties Issues
Fr: Shoba Sivaprasad
Re: URGENT! Senate to Vote on Amendment that Guts Civil Liberties Oversight TODAY
Last week, Senator Kyl (R-AZ) filed an amendment (#3801) to the Senate 9-11 bill (Collins/Lieberman, S. 2845) that is currently on the Senate floor. This amendment is expected to be voted on today. Votes start at 3:45 pm. Among other things, this amendment would diminish the civil liberties and privacy board; eliminate the statutory civil liberties and privacy officers; and undermine the 9-11 Commission’s recommendation for bold civil liberties oversight.
PLEASE CALL, EMAIL, AND FAX YOUR SENATORS IN THEIR WASHINGTON, DC OFFICES IMMEDIATELY AND ASK THEM TO VOTE NO TO THE KYL AMENDMENT (#3801) ON PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT. Thank you in advance for your prompt response!
You can access your senators' contact information at:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
<http://www.senate.gov>
or by calling the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202.224.3121.
To send an instant email, visit the web site of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (http://capwiz.com/aila2/home/) and search for your senators by entering your zip code. You can click on "compose your own message" and use the one-pager below to write your own email. Time is of the essence!
Please also contact Senators Collins (R-ME) and Lieberman (D-CT) and ask them to vote no on this amendment. Their contact information appears below:
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME): tel. 202.224.2523, fax 202.224.2693
AND Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT): tel. 202.224.4041, fax 202.224.9750
More on the Amendment: (one-pager produced by Lara Flint of the Center for Democracy and Technology)
OPPOSE KYL AMENDMENT NO. 3801
TO THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE REFORM ACT
Senator Kyl has introduced an amendment to the National Intelligence Reform Act, S. 2845, the 9/11 Commission bill that is pending on the Senate floor. The amendment would gut one of the key recommendations of the 9/11 Commission’s report: the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and related officials. Those provisions are critical to the protection of privacy and civil liberties given the consolidation of government power in the bill, and must be retained in full. The Kyl Amendment would seriously undermine the effectiveness of the Board.
The Kyl Amendment:
· Removes the provisions requiring the Board to inform the public of its activities, including making its reports public and holding public hearings.
The Board cannot provide adequate oversight without informing the public about its activities. Transparency is one of the key functions of the Board – conducting its work in secret will only engender public distrust and render it ineffective.
· Deletes the requirement that the government demonstrate that its proposals would materially enhance security and are subject to adequate supervision and guidelines to ensure protection of privacy and civil liberties.
This aspect of the Board’s responsibilities comes directly from the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations. Specifically, the 9/11 Commission Report stated: “The burden of proof for retaining a particular governmental power should be on the executive, to explain (a) that the power actually materially enhances security and (b) that there is adequate supervision of the executive’s use of the powers to ensure protection of civil liberties. If the power is granted, there must be adequate guidelines and oversight to properly confine its use.” The Board must ensure the Executive Branch satisfies this standard.
· Takes away the subpoena power of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
Both 9/11 Commission Chair Thomas Kean and Vice Chair Lee Hamilton have made clear that the Board will need subpoena power to be effective. In congressional hearings, each made clear that the Board would need the authority to obtain information, including from those outside government.
· Removes the statutory Privacy and Civil Liberties Officers for departments and agencies engaging in counterterrorism activities, including the new National Intelligence Authority.
Statutory Privacy and Civil Liberties Officers, through their congressional mandates, have influence and permanence that non-statutory officers do not. As Congress moves to consolidate power in the National Intelligence Authority and enhance government power to fight terrorism, it becomes more important to have strong privacy and civil liberties representatives in each of the relevant agencies, who can not only oversee their own agencies but also participate in the cross-agency work of the Board.
Shoba Sivaprasad, Esq.
Senior Policy Associate
National Immigration Forum
50 F. Street, NW, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20001
main: (202)-347-0047
direct: (202)-383-5991
cell: (202)-491-6520
fax: (202)-347-0058
ssivaprasad@immigrationforum.org
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