Text 2288, 101 rader
Skriven 2006-03-09 23:33:48 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0603097) for Thu, 2006 Mar 9
===================================================
===========================================================================
Fact Sheet: Safeguarding America: President Bush Signs Patriot Act
Reauthorization
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 9, 2006

Fact Sheet: Safeguarding America: President Bush Signs Patriot Act
Reauthorization


˙˙˙˙˙In Focus: Patriot Act

Today's Presidential Action

Today, President Bush Signed The USA PATRIOT Improvement And
Reauthorization Act Of 2005. Since its enactment in October 2001, the
Patriot Act has been vital to winning the War on Terror and protecting the
American people. The legislation signed today allows intelligence and law
enforcement officials to continue sharing information and using the same
tools against terrorists already employed against drug dealers and other
criminals. While safeguarding Americans' civil liberties, this legislation
also strengthens the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) so that it can better
detect and disrupt terrorist threats, and it also gives law enforcement new
tools to combat threats. America still faces dangerous enemies, and no
priority is more important to the President than protecting the American
people without delay.

The Patriot Act Closes Dangerous Law Enforcement And Intelligence Gaps

The Patriot Act Has Accomplished Exactly What It Was Designed To Do - It
Has Helped Us Detect Terrorist Cells, Disrupt Terrorist Plots, And Save
American Lives.
  ū The Patriot Act has helped law enforcement break up terror cells in
    Ohio, New York, Oregon, and Virginia.
  ū The Patriot Act has helped in the prosecution of terrorist operatives
    and supporters in California, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois Washington,
    and North Carolina.

The Patriot Act Authorizes Vital Information Sharing To Help Law
Enforcement And Intelligence Officials Connect The Dots Before Terrorists
Strike. The Patriot Act enables necessary cooperation and information
sharing by helping to break down legal and bureaucratic walls separating
criminal investigators from intelligence officers.

The Patriot Act Eliminates Double Standards By Allowing Agents To Pursue
Terrorists With The Same Tools They Use Against Other Criminals. Before the
Patriot Act, it was easier to track a drug dealer's phone contacts than a
terrorist's phone contacts, and it was easier to obtain a tax cheat's
credit card receipts than to trace the financial support of an al-Qaida
fundraiser. The Patriot Act corrected these double standards - and America
is safer as a result.

The Patriot Act Adapts The Law To Modern Technology. The Patriot Act allows
Internet service providers to disclose customer records voluntarily to the
government in emergencies involving an immediate risk of death or serious
physical injury and permits victims of hacking crimes to request law
enforcement assistance in monitoring trespassers on their computers.

The Patriot Act Preserves Our Freedoms And Upholds The Rule Of Law. The
legislation signed today adds over 30 new significant civil liberties
provisions.

The Patriot Act Reauthorization Safeguards Our Nation

The Patriot Act Reauthorization Creates A New Assistant Attorney General
for National Security. By creating a new Assistant Attorney General for
National Security, this legislation fulfills a critical recommendation of
the WMD Commission. This will allow the Justice Department to bring its
national security, counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and foreign
intelligence surveillance operations under a single authority.

The Patriot Act Reauthorization Tackles Terrorism Financing. This bill
enhances penalties for terrorism financing and closes a loophole concerning
terrorist financing through "hawalas" (informal money transfer networks)
rather than traditional financial institutions.

The Patriot Act Reauthorization Protects Mass Transportation. This bill
provides clear standards and tough penalties for attacks on our land- and
water-based mass transportation systems, as well as commercial aviation.

The Patriot Act Reauthorization Combats Methamphetamine Abuse

The Patriot Act Reauthorization Includes The Combat Methamphetamine
Epidemic Act Of 2005. This bill introduces commonsense safeguards that will
make many ingredients used in methamphetamine manufacturing more difficult
to obtain in bulk and easier for law enforcement to track. For example, the
bill places limits on large-scale purchases of over-the-counter drugs that
are used to manufacture methamphetamines- and requires stores to keep these
ingredients behind the counter or in locked display cases. It increases
penalties for smuggling and selling methamphetamines.

# # #

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060309-7.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)