The Justice Department should disclose by Sept. 30...
The Justice Department should disclose by Sept. 30 what other potential collection items it believes Section 215 of the Patriot Act authorizes, House Judiciary Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., told Attorney General Eric Holder in a Friday…
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letter (http://1.usa.gov/15QxiB1). Sensenbrenner authored the Patriot Act and has been a vocal critic of the government’s bulk phone data collection following recent revelations about National Security Agency surveillance. Sensenbrenner plans to introduce a bill in Congress soon addressing those concerns, his office told us last week (CD Sept 6 p5). “The administration’s interpretation to allow for bulk collection is at odds with Congressional intent and with both the plain and legal meanings of ‘relevance,'” he said in his letter to Holder. “The implications of this flawed interpretation are staggering.” The NSA has defended its collection under various legal provisions in recent months. Sensenbrenner asked Holder whether Justice believes the Patriot Act authorizes the government to collect all records of commercial transactions between Americans, to bulk-collect all records of firearm sales, to assemble a database of gun owners, whether the administration collects records in bulk other than phone records and how Justice might distinguish the collection of commercial transactions in bulk from its collection of phone records.