Usa Patriot Act

An internal Justice Department report accuses the FBI of underreporting its use of the Patriot Act to force businesses to turn over customer information in terrorism cases, according to officials. The report, to be released today, also says the FBI failed to send follow-up subpoenas to telecommunications companies that were told to expect them, according to several government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report had not yet been released.

The Bush administration, accused of politicizing the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys, agreed Thursday not to oppose legislation to restore rules ensuring Senate oversight when new prosecutors are named, Senate Democrats said. The Justice Department also agreed to make five senior officials available to the Senate Judiciary Committee for questioning about the removal of eight U.S. attorneys in recent months, according to Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.

The recent forced resignations of six top federal prosecutors, including two in California, were based on "performance-related" concerns and were not politically motivated, a Justice Department official testified Tuesday on Capitol Hill. Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Deputy Atty. Gen. Paul J. McNulty defended the dismissals. "The indisputable fact is that United States attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president," he said. "They come and they go for lots of reasons."

Securities regulators on Monday sanctioned Los Angeles-based investment firm Crowell, Weedon & Co., saying it violated customer identification requirements mandated by the Patriot Act. The Securities and Exchange Commission said the action was its first enforcement of rules designed to protect the financial system from money laundering and terrorism, although no such crimes were alleged in this case.

The House renewed the Patriot Act in a cliffhanger vote Tuesday, extending a centerpiece of the war on terrorism at President Bush's urging after months of political combat over the balance between privacy rights and the pursuit of potential terrorists. Bush, forced by filibuster to accept new curbs on law enforcement inquiries, is expected to sign the bill before 16 provisions of the 2001 law expire Friday.

After months of hard-fought negotiations, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to renew expiring portions of the Patriot Act after adding new privacy protections to the controversial law spawned by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Senators voted, 89 to 10, to make permanent 14 of the 16 provisions originally set to expire at the end of 2005. The other two, which govern secret government records searches, were modified and reauthorized for four years.

Congress prepared Tuesday to reauthorize expiring provisions of the Patriot Act as the Senate voted to end a two-month filibuster by Democrats and dissident Republicans who complained the bill ran roughshod over civil liberties. The Senate is expected to vote today to adopt a White House-approved compromise that would reauthorize six controversial provisions of the anti-terrorism law originally set to expire at the end of 2005. Since Jan.

Legislation to renew the Patriot Act was cleared for final congressional passage Friday when House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) gave his approval to a day-old compromise between the White House and Senate Republicans. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also indicated he would vote for the bill when it came to a vote, possibly next week. The legislation gives federal agents expanded powers to investigate suspected terrorists in the U.S.

Senate Republicans who had been blocking a long-term extension of the Patriot Act announced Thursday that an agreement reached with the White House could allow reauthorization of the anti-terrorism law. At an afternoon news conference, Sen. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) said a bipartisan group of lawmakers had worked out changes in three areas where the legislators thought "we could do better to protect civil liberties while providing law enforcement the tools it needs."