Domestic Security Enhancement Act

Orange Alert

for Civil Liberties

Beware of the "Domestic Security Enhancement Act"

Even after the draconian measures of the "Patriot" Act, George W. Bush and company apparently think Americans are too free and that we cannot be trusted to know what further infringements on our freedom are being planned.

The Justice Department's plans for a "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003" were revealed only through a leak to the Center for Public Integrity, which made the document public on February 7. Dick Cheney and House Speaker Dennis Hastert are the only recognizable elected or quasi-elected officials documented as having obtained the document, which is marked "Confidential: Not for Distribution Draft Jan. 9, 2003."

You can read our summary below or our latest op-ed, published February 11 by Pacific News Service. The full draft legislation may be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

Consequences of the proposals in the draft DSEA

If introduced and passed as drafted, the Act would:

Revoke portions of the Freedom of Information Act. (See Section 201, pp. 13-14 of pdf) Your right to obtain information about a friend or family member detained by the government in connection with any activity deemed "terrorist" would be revoked. This is incredible in lieu of the fact that the Freedom of Information Act already allows for the government to withhold such information if its disclosure could hamper investigation of other suspects or events (exemptions 7a, 7c, 7f, in 5 U.S.C. 552b7).

The Act also would prevent you from having reasonable access to information about threats to your health and community, such as levels of toxic emissions (Section 202). The Act refers to such information as “a roadmap for terrorists.” The result: you'll have to trust the Bush Environmental Protection Agency to disclose any corporate activities that pose a threat to you and your family.

Allow the Bush Administration to revoke your residency or U.S. citizenship. Perhaps the most alarming proposal (Section 501) would give the Justice Dept. power to revoke a person's permanent resident alien status or even U.S. citizenship for participating in, or "providing material support to ... a terrorist organization."

Since the 2001 "Patriot Act" redefined "terrorist activity" so broadly that minor vandalism could qualify, donating to a nonprofit organization that, unknown to you, is on Ashcroft's disfavored list could end your life as an American citizen and resident.

Invalidate state legal consent decrees (Section 312) that seek to curb police spying on U.S. citizens, regardless of any tangible evidence of criminal activity. This effectively re-authorizes the CIA and FBI to engage in domestic terrorism against activist groups ( a la COINTELPRO); practices that were made illegal after the well-documented abuses of the 1960s.

If you think we overstate by using the term domestic terrorism to describe the FBI and CIA activities, please inform yourself about this critical history. The Church Committee report (officially the Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities of the United States Senate, 94th Congress, 2nd Session, 1976) is a good starting point. See http://derechos.net/paulwolf/cointelpro/ for that and much more material.

Allow the government to force U.S. citizens to allow invasive collection of DNA samples (Sections 301-306) if the Administration consider someone a "suspected terrorist."

These are just initial observations; it will take some time to fully understand the consequences of these proposals. The Act also would authorize the Justice Department to conduct secret searches of the home of any suspected terrorist for 15 days after any "national emergency," rather than after a formal declaration of war, as in current law. Wiretaps of U.S. citizens for longer periods and with less court oversight are another proposal.

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I thought some of you on here might find this interesting.

I win.

this country will be the next "Titanic"

i wanna see the riots once someone gets executed for vandalism

Yeah they can label anyone a "terrorist" now

goddammit!!! i am really starting to get pissed off. i mean thi scountry has always had a shadow of corruption over it, but since bush got fake elected, its really getting out of hand. and who comes up with these vague posi-names for these legislations?

Domestic Security Enhancement ACt? what kind of jargon bullshit is that?

It should be the Shut the fuck up and give us your civil rights and motherfucking privacy act. If thats what they called it, i bet it wouldnt slip by so easily. :heated: