Jusice Department details use of Patriot Act to Congress

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department gave Congress nearly three dozen examples Tuesday of how the Patriot Act has been used to prosecute terrorists and other criminals, part of an administration effort to counter criticism that the law does more to harm civil liberties than to protect the nation.\nAttorney General John Ashcroft presented a 29-page report outlining the examples to members of the House Judiciary Committee, telling reporters after the private briefing that the report provided "a mountain of evidence" of the law's benefits.\n"The Patriot Act is al-Qaida's worst nightmare when it comes to disrupting and disabling their operations here in America," he said.\nThe Bush administration has been trying to squelch criticism that the law, enacted a few weeks after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, gave the FBI and other law enforcement agencies too much power to spy on people and dig into private lives. Key sections of the law expire in 2005. President Bush has urged Congress to renew those sections.\nThe report did not mention some more controversial powers, such as the FBI's ability to obtain library and bookstore records in terrorism cases or the so-called "sneak and peek" search warrants in which agents need not immediately tell suspects their home or business had been searched.\nRep. John Conyers of Michigan, ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, accused the department of selectively releasing information and refusing to address civil liberties concerns.\n"Coupled with the department's consistent record of exaggerating their record about terrorism, this entire report is suspect," Conyers said.\nLess than a week ago, House Republican leaders barely turned back an amendment that would have barred the FBI from using Patriot Act authority to obtain library and bookstore records.\nJudiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the report shows "some real-life, local benefits" to the Patriot Act, something supporters can point to in future legislative debates about the measure.\nThe report says between the Sept. 11 attacks and May 5, Justice Department terrorism investigations led to charges against 310 people, of whom 179 were convicted or pleaded guilty. The Patriot Act, it says, was instrumental in many of these cases.\nThe report provides 35 examples of how the law was used to prosecute alleged terror cells in New York, Oregon, Virginia and elsewhere; how it updated law enforcement tools to track such technology as cell phones and Internet communications; and how many of its provisions are used for other criminal probes including child pornography, computer hacking, kidnapping and illegal weapons sales.\nThe report did not say whether the FBI had used its authority under Section 215 of the law to obtain library or bookstore records. That information is classified, but Ashcroft issued a declassified statement last September saying the power had not yet been used.\nLast week, however, the Justice Department wrote to Sensenbrenner that investigators had confirmed that "a member of a terrorist group closely affiliated with al-Qaida" had used Internet services at a public library in winter and spring 2004 "to communicate with his confederates." No other details were provided.\nAnthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said he considered the report a political document rather than a serious examination of the Patriot Act's impact. The Bush administration, he said, should "spend less time waging public relations campaigns and more time responding to the specific, legitimate concerns of the American people"