With the Senate's refusal to renew the Patriot Act, here are some applicable tools for gathering info on suspected terrorists that
will no longer exist:
Subsection 203(b): Permits the sharing of grand jury information that involves foreign intelligence or counterintelligence with federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective, immigration, national defense or national security officials
Subsection 203(d): Gives foreign intelligence or counterintelligence officers the ability to share foreign intelligence information obtained as part of a criminal investigation with law enforcement.
Section 223: Amends the federal criminal code to provide for administrative discipline of federal officers or employees who violate prohibitions against unauthorized disclosures of information gathered under this act.
In other words, thanks to the Senate, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and intelligence agencies are again largely prohibited from coordinating their information. That lack of coordination pre-9/11 was cited as one of the contributing factors to the failure to prevent the attacks on September 11.
Good work, guys.
