Security & Civil Liberties: Would you renew, repeal or amend the USA PATRIOT ACT?
John Kerry: I will replace the Patriot Act because the spirit of the law has been abused by the Ashcroft Justice Department. I'll scale back several provisions to assure our security doesn't come at the expense of our civil liberties. I'll keep effective provisions, like those that help cut off terrorist financing.
We must stop indefinitely detaining American citizens and give basic rights to those who are detained. American citizens should have the right to a lawyer and foreign citizens should be given the right to hearings to determine their status.
We need more oversight of “sneak and peek” searches to assure strong safeguards on the use of roving wiretaps and the seizing of library and business records.
We need to use terrorism laws to combat terrorism and not in ordinary criminal cases, or to send the FBI to churches or anti-war demonstrations
We need to mandate regular reporting to Congress of all anti-terrorism activities and follow established protocols to protect privacy and security.
I'll keep the Patriot Act provisions that help the war on terrorism and improve information sharing between the intelligence community and local law enforcement.
On Border Control
John Edwards: John Ashcroft has trampled on our rights and claimed unprecedented power. We need to rein in this attorney general. I will amend the Patriot Act to protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens, repeal provisions that do not work and make sure the public is better informed about how the Patriot Act is actually working.
I believe we need to reform the Patriot Act to:
Protect the basic rights of U.S. Citizens. Due process doesn't just protect criminals-it protects all of us. No American should be detained forever, without any chance to argue before a judge that he is innocent.
Repeal provisions of the act that don't work. The Patriot Act allows the Attorney General to get the records of a library or business if he tells a judge that these records are related to a terrorism investigation. We must change the law to require the Justice Department to prove that there is a real justification for getting these records. We must also rewrite the provision that allows searches without notice to the target to more narrowly limit the circumstances in which those searches are allowed.
Make sure the public has information about how the act is working. This administration has classified even the most minimal information about how the Patriot Act is working. We need more disclosure of the number of wiretaps under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act.
Howard Dean: We must not undermine freedom in the name of freedom. I am troubled by elements of the Patriot Act that curtail our liberties, including provisions that grant the government broad investigative and surveillance powers and strip federal courts of traditional authority to curb executive branch abuses of power. Reconsideration of certain provisions is therefore warranted.
Wesley Clark: The PATRIOT Act was jammed through Congress without proper debate, and Attorney General John Ashcroft has used it to pursue investigations that have nothing to do with terrorism. I'll call on Congress to fully review each provision of the Act, study the ways each has been used, and eliminate provisions that threaten our civil liberties.
The main problem with the PATRIOT Act is the way it's been implemented by John Ashcroft.
I believe that law enforcement needs all the tools necessary to deal with the problems of terrorism, but I'm concerned that the PATRIOT Act expands the authority of government investigators too much without sufficient judicial oversight.
The Attorney General has not lived up to his responsibility to all Americans to uphold the principles of democracy and for which this country stands.
I'll call on Congress to fully review each provision of the Act, study the ways each has been used, and eliminate provisions that threaten our civil liberties.
