The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, also known as The Patriot Act II, Son of Patriot, and various other similar names is draft legislation written by John Ashcroft's Department of Justice. The Center for Public Integrity obtained a copy of the draft, marked "confidential," on February 7, 2003, and posted it on its web site, along with commentary. President George W. Bush signing the USA PATRIOT ACT in the White Houses East Room on October 26, 2001. ... John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) was the 79th Attorney General of the United States. ... Justice Department redirects here. ... The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, organization in the United States which is concerned with monitoring campaign finance laws in the U.S. and works for campaign finance reform. ... February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The draft version of the bill would greatly expand the powers of the United States government to unprecedented levels, while simultaneously eliminating or curtailing judicial review of these powers. Members of the United States Congress said they had not seen the drafts, though the documents obtained by the CPI indicated that House speaker Dennis Hastert and US Vice President Dick Cheney have received copies. Judicial review is the power of a court to review a law or an official act of a government employee or agent for constitutionality or for the violation of basic principles of justice. ... Congress in Joint Session. ... Dennis Hastert John Dennis Hastert, born January 2, 1942, is an American politician, and has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 1999. ... Richard Bruce Dick Cheney (born January 30, 1941) is the 46th Vice President of the United States under President George W. Bush. ...

Some commentators speculated that Ashcroft did not actually believe that any of the measures outlined in the bill would be passed, but that he deliberately asked for such radical measures to preclude controversy when a trimmed down version is later introduced which contains somewhat less far-reaching plans. It has also been suggested that, had the text of the bill not been leaked, the administration would have delayed its deployment to co-incide with a future terrorist attack in an attempt to secure a wider basis for approval of its measures.

Provisions of the February 7^th draft version included:

• Removal of court-ordered prohibitions against police agencies spying on domestic groups.
• The FBI would be granted powers to conduct searches and surveillance based on intelligence gathered in foreign countries, without first obtaining a court order.
• Creation of a DNA database of suspected terrorists.
• Prohibition of any public disclosure of the names of alleged terrorists, including those who have been arrested.
• Exemptions from civil liability for people and businesses who voluntarily turn private information over to the government.
• Criminalization of the use of encryption to conceal incriminating communications.
• Automatic denial of bail for persons accused of terrorism-related crimes, reversing the ordinary common law burden of proof principle. All alleged terrorists would be required to demonstrate why they should be released on bail, rather than the government being required to demonstrate why they should be held.
• Expansion of the list of crimes eligible for the death penalty.
• The Environmental Protection Agency would be prevented from releasing "worst case scenario" information to the public about chemical plants.
• United States citizens whom the government finds to be either members of, or providing material support to, terrorist groups could have their US citizenship revoked and be deported to foreign countries.

Some provisions of this act have been tacked onto other bills, such as the Senate Spending bill, and subsequently passed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... The general structure of a section of DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid —usually in the form of a double helix— that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life, and most viruses. ... A database is an organized collection of data. ... The term terrorism is largely synonymous with political violence or the threat of violence, and refers to a strategy of using coordinated attacks that typically fall within the time, manner of conduct, and place commonly understood as unconventional warfare. ... In the most general sense, a liability is anything that is a hindrance, or puts one at a disadvantage. ... In cryptography, encryption is the process of obscuring information to make it unreadable without special knowledge. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... In the common law, burden of proof is the obligation to prove allegations which are presented in a legal action. ... Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court in order to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail (skipping bail, or jumping bail, is also illegal). ... Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offense or a capital crime. ... EPA redirects here. ... The word citizen may refer to: A person with a citizenship Citizen Watch Co. ... Deportation is the expelling of someone from a country. ...

The ACLU has been a vocal opponent of the PATRIOT Act of 2001, the proposed (as of 2003) PATRIOT 2 Act, and associated legislation made in response to the threat of domestic terrorism, that it believes violates either the letter and/or the spirit of the U.S. Bill of Rights. The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is a non_governmental organization devoted to defending civil rights and civil liberties in the United States. ...

On January 31, 2006 the Center for Public Integrity published a story on its website which claimed that this proposed legislation undercut the Bush administration's legal rationale of its NSA wiretapping program. The story claimed that Section 103: Strengthening Wartime Authorities Under FISA appears to state an AUMF does not override §§ 1811, 1829 & 1844 of FISA. This appears to be very significant, as the legal rationale given by the current Attorney General relies upon the AUMF passed by the Congress of The United States in 2001. The AUMF is supposed to implicitly override FISA because of legal language FISA contains, "not withstanding any other law." The AUMF is supposed to be the "other law." Critics of the NSA program point out the AUMF does not contain any language in reference to FISA and therefore must not override it. They also note that if the "other law" language in FISA does not overide the sections to be amended, then it must not in all of the others, including the sections which require a court order for a wiretap. The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public law 107-243, 116 Stat. ... The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 prescribes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence information between or among foreign powers. FISA is codified in 50 U.S.C. §§1801-1811, 1821-29, 1841-46, and 1861-62. ...

External links

• The Center for Public Integrity's Original 2003 Report, including draft copies of the legislation
• The Center for Public Integrity's 2006 Report on the NSA program legal rationale
• US prepares to widen surveillance powers, The Financial Times, By Edward Alden. February 8 2003. Requires payment.
• Warblogging.com commentary on DSEA-03