Writing at The Liberty Papers, Robert Bell of Libertopia, has a great post about this article from Paul Craig Roberts about some of the provisions in the reauthoriztion the PATRIOT Act:
A provision in the “Patriot Act” creates a new federal police force with power to violate the Bill of Rights. You might think that this cannot be true as you have not read about it in newspapers or heard it discussed by talking heads on TV.
Go to House Report 109-333 -USA PATRIOT IMPROVEMENT AND REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005 and check it out for yourself. Sec. 605 reads:
“There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be known as the ‘United States Secret Service Uniformed Division’.”
This new federal police force is “subject to the supervision of the Secretary of Homeland Security.”
And just what is this permanent police force empowered to do ?
The new police are empowered to “make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony.”
The new police are assigned a variety of jurisdictions, including “an event designated under section 3056(e) of title 18 as a special event of national significance” (SENS).
“A special event of national significance” is neither defined nor does it require the presence of a “protected person” such as the president in order to trigger it. Thus, the administration, and perhaps the police themselves, can place the SENS designation on any event. Once a SENS designation is placed on an event, the new federal police are empowered to keep out and to arrest people at their discretion.
The language conveys enormous discretionary and arbitrary powers.
What is “an offense against the United States”? What are “reasonable grounds”?
A very interesting question……….which I’m sure isn’t being debated at all in the halls of Congress as this law heads toward passage.
Roberts, who is hardly a left winger, asks a question that is dying to be answered:
It is extremely difficult to hold even local police forces accountable. Who is going to hold accountable a federal police protected by Homeland Security and the president?
Ask your Senator and Congressman.
Technorati Tags: War on Terror, PATRIOT Act
