Ron Wyden D-Ore. As NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reported earlier today , the senators had expressed concern about a "secret interpretation of the Patriot Act that would stun the American people. In the letter , obtained by NPR's Carrie Johnson, Weich explains in broad terms how the government collects information using section of the Patriot Act, which expanded the powers of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court after the terrorist attacks of Sept.
And he makes two main points: Congress had detailed knowledge of the classified uses of section and that it still reauthorized the statute and two other provisions of the Patriot Act by overwhelming margins in May There is also extensive oversight by the Executive Branch, including the Department of Justice and relevant agency General Counsels and Inspectors General, as well as annual and semi-annual reports to Congress as required by law.
Weich says that section of the Patriot Act allows the federal government to ask the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court FISA for permission to collect any tangible things in connection to "an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.
The law also stipulates that the FISA court is only allowed to OK the production of records that can normally be obtained with a grand jury subpoena. Weich goes on to explain that this threshold is fairly broad can include records related to lawful activities by U.
He writes:. The records obtained pursuant to a grand jury subpoena may concern the lawful activities of U. A motion to quash a grand jury subpoena will be denied unless there is 'no reasonable possibility' that the category of information the government seeks will produce information relevant to the general subject of the grand jury's investigation. Copyright NPR.
