Senate Approves Revised Patriot Act

NPR reports:

The Senate has approved the USA Freedom Act, which will alter the way U.S. agencies conduct surveillance and gather data. A final vote on the bill came late Tuesday afternoon, after amendments to the bill failed. President Obama can now sign the bill into law as soon as it reaches him, after an expedited enrollment process. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted against the measure today, as he did last fall. Also voting against the bill Tuesday was independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. The lead sponsor of the bill in the House, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., promises it will "rein in the dragnet collection of data" by the NSA and others, and "increase transparency of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court." Calling today's passage "a milestone," ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer says, "This is the most important surveillance reform bill since 1978, and its passage is an indication that Americans are no longer willing to give the intelligence agencies a blank check."

Rand Paul Claims Patriot Act Victory

Sen. Rand Paul is claiming victory over last night's expiration of several major portions of the Patriot Act, but he may be merely grandstanding as the Senate is expected to quickly reauthorize the expired laws.

The Senate entered a debate period late Sunday on the Patriot Act that pushed beyond the midnight deadline. With the debate ongoing, that effectively ends the National Security Agency's bulk data collection program. President Barack Obama and government officials spent last week warning of serious national security consequences, while the most ardent advocates of NSA reform were prepared to call a bluff they saw as little more than fear-mongering. The National Security Agency officially shut down the bulk metadata collection program officially at 7:44 p.m. Sunday night, a senior government official told CNN's Justice Correspondent Pamela Brown. Officials had previously indicated they would shut the program down around 8 p.m. to ensure all procedures were in place before the midnight deadline. The Senate is expected to restore the expiring authorities midweek.

Thousands Of Sites Block Congress In Protest Against The Patriot Act

Via The Hill:

Thousands of websites are blocking Congress’s access to their sites in a show of force to protest the Patriot Act. Led by the online activist group Fight for the Future, more than 10,000 sites have added code that redirects any visitors from Internet protocol (IP) addresses from Congress away from their site and towards a protest page. “Congress: This is a blackout,” the site reads. “We are blocking your access until you end mass surveillance laws.” Instead of renewing or reforming the three expiring provisions of the Patriot Act, the activist group wants Congress to let them expire. “The real answer is to end all authorities used to conduct mass surveillance,” Fight for the Future says on the protest page. “Until you do, thousands of websites have blocked your access, and more are joining every day.”

If the Senate does not act by midnight tonight, three major parts of the Patriot Act will automatically expire. Yesterday Sen. Rand Paul penned a TIME op-ed in which he vows to stop reauthorization efforts. See the protest site here.

Rand Paul Begins Patriot Act Filibuster

The Patriot Act is up for re-authorization and Rand Paul has begun his promised filibuster on the Senate floor. Watch live on C-SPAN 2 (cable log-in required). Can Rand Paul outdo Ted Cruz' legendary Green Eggs & Ham filibuster?

Rand Paul Vows To Filibuster Patriot Act

Sen. Rand Paul said yesterday that he plans to filibuster against the impending reauthorization vote for the Patriot Act.

"I'm going to lead the charge in the next couple of weeks as the Patriot Act comes forward," he said in a one-on-one interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader. "We will be filibustering. We will be trying to stop it. We are not going to let them run over us. And we are going to demand amendments and we are going to make sure the American people know that some of us at least are opposed to unlawful searches." Paul, the Republican U.S. Senator from Kentucky, said that even architects of the Patriot Act say roving wiretapping by the National Security Agency was not part of the legislation's intent.

More from The Hill:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) has said that he favors a full reauthorization of the measures, but other lawmakers say they would be willing to pass reform legislation. A short-term extension would give lawmakers more time to sort out their differences beyond the current June 1 deadline for renewing the law. A filibuster of the Patriot Act provisions could give Paul more visibility as the presidential campaign ramps up. He lists his opposition to the National Security Agency's surveillance programs on the homepage of his website and sells a “NSA Spy Cam Blocker” in his campaign store.

John Oliver Talks "Dick Pics" And The Patriot Act With Edward Snowden

Via NBC News:

Snowden spoke to the "Last Week Tonight" host in Moscow, where he has been for more than a year since being charged with espionage after leaking classified information regarding the NSA's extensive surveillance programs. Oliver asked Snowden to explain the implications of NSA surveillance on racy personal photos. "The good news is there's no program named 'the dick pic program'," Snowden said. "The bad news is they're still collecting everybody's information — including your dick pics." He added: "When you send your junk through Gmail, for example, that is stored on Google's servers. Google moves that data from data center to data center invisibly to you. Without your knowledge, your data could be moved outside the borders of the United States temporarily. When your junk was passed by Gmail … the NSA caught a copy of that." The North Carolina-born Snowden also explained his decision to reveal classified information, saying he wanted to make Americans aware that government agencies were snooping on U.S. citizens.

HBO has posted the full episode. The Patriot Act is due for renewal in a couple of months.

Sen. Rand Paul Vs. Gov. Chris Christie

Over the weekend Christie took on the libertarians:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is ripping libertarians — including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — for challenging government surveillance programs and failing to understand the dangers of terrorism. “This strain of libertarianism that’s going through parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought,” the New Jersey GOP governor said on Thursday at a Republican governors forum in Aspen, Colo. “You can name any number of people and (Paul is) one of them.” “These esoteric, intellectual debates — I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation. And they won’t, because that’s a much tougher conversation to have,” Christie said.

Yesterday Paul fired back on Fox News.

New York Times Editorial: President Obama Has Now Lost All Credibility

From the New York Times editorial board:

Within hours of the disclosure that the federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every time President Obama has been caught overreaching in the use of his powers: Terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us to deal with them because we have internal mechanisms (that we are not going to tell you about) to make sure we do not violate your rights.

Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability. The administration has now lost all credibility. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the 9/11 attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers.

Read the full stinging editorial.

UPDATE: The Times edited the above editorial after I excerpted it. The critical sentence now reads: "The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue. (Italics are mine.)

Congress Renews Patriot Act

It might seem impossible, but Congress has renewed the Patriot Act for another year. In the Senate, important privacy protections failed to be included due to the loss of the Democratic supermajority.

Key provisions of the nation’s primary counterterrorism law would be extended for a year under a bill passed by the House last night after Democrats retreated from adding privacy protections. The House voted, 315 to 97, to extend the Patriot Act, sending the bill to President Obama. Without the bill, the provisions would expire Sunday. The Senate approved the extension Wednesday. The privacy protections were cast aside when Senate Democrats lacked the necessary 60-vote supermajority to pass them. Some in Congress had sought to increase restrictions and scrutiny on the government’s authority to spy on Americans and seize their records. The Democratic retreat is a political victory for Republicans and a major disappointment for Democrats and their allies who believe the Patriot Act fails to protect privacy and gives the government too much authority to spy on Americans and seize their property.