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"And to strengthen the security, we've got to strengthen our partnership with state and local officials. It doesn't do any good if we can figure something out and we don't share it with people at the local level. In this state, the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center -- known as MCAC -- brings together more than 20 federal, state and local agencies. You're doing a good thing in the state and for the local level to coordinate information. I want to tell you a story about MCAC's success. Last summer, Baltimore County Police officers spotted a suspicious person videotaping the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. First of all, you have somebody who is alert on the ground. It was odd looking, somebody is videotaping the bridge. Maybe that happens a lot; maybe it doesn't. Anyway, this person was wise, he saw something suspicious. So they alerted the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, which then notified MCAC. When the personnel team there learned that the man was part of a federal terrorism investigation in Illinois, they secured a warrant and arrested the guy within hours.

...

"Both houses of Congress passed the Patriot Act by overwhelming bipartisan majorities, and I was proud to sign this law. And it's working. The Patriot Act authorized better sharing of information between law enforcement and intelligence. Before the Patriot Act, criminal investigators were separated from intelligence officers by a legal and bureaucratic law. Imagine that. You get somebody investigating a problem, and somebody collecting intelligence, and they couldn't share information. And so the Patriot Act broke down that wall. How in the heck can people expect us to protect our country when you can't share intelligence with people who are investigating? The Patriot Act helped tear down the wall so that people can share information better, and work as a team and break up terror networks.

"Listen, finding our enemies in the war on terror is tough enough. Law enforcement should not be denied vital information their own colleagues already have. And so, for the sake of our security, the United States Congress must not rebuild the wall that prevents law enforcement from doing its job. (reference to section 203)

"The Patriot Act allowed investigators to pursue terrorists with the same tools they use against other criminals. Think about that statement. We had people that could use certain tools against drug dealers, but couldn't against terrorists. Before the Patriot Act, it was easier to track the phone contacts of a drug dealer than the phone contacts of a terrorist. Before the Patriot Act it was easier to get the credit card receipts of a tax cheat than that of an al Qaeda bank-roller. Before the Patriot Act agents could use wire taps to investigate a person committing mail fraud, but not specifically to investigate a foreign terrorist carrying deadly weapons. Before the Patriot Act, investigators could follow the calls of mobsters who switched cell phones, but not terrorists who switched cell phones. That didn't make any sense. The Patriot Act ended all these double standards. (reference to section 206, roving surveillance, section 214, pen register and trap & trace authority, section 215, access to records and other items under FISA and section 218. Foreign intelligence information).

"The theory is straightforward and it makes sense to me, Dutch, and I know it does to a lot of your colleagues. If we have good tools to fight street crime and fraud, then our law enforcement ought to have the same tools to fight terrorism. The Patriot Act also has updated the law to meet high-tech threats like computer espionage and cyber-terrorism. For example, before the Patriot Act, Internet providers who notified federal authorities about threatening emails ran the risk of getting sued. Needless to say, that stopped some people from sharing threatening emails -- nobody likes to get sued. It happens too often in our society, by the way. The Patriot Act modernized the law to protect Internet companies who voluntarily disclose information to save American lives.

"Terrorists are using every advantage of the 21st century technology, and we've got to make sure our law enforcement has got the tools to fight off that advantage. The Patriot Act helps us defeat our enemies while safeguarding civil liberties for all Americans. The judicial branch has a strong oversight role in the application of the Patriot Act. Law enforcement officers need a federal judge's permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone, or to track his calls, or to search his property. Officers must meet strict standards to use any of the tools we're talking about. And they are fully consistent with the Constitution of the United States.

"Congress also oversees the use of the Patriot Act. Our Attorney General, Al Gonzales, delivers regular reports on the Patriot Act to the House and the Senate. The Department of Justice has answered hundreds of questions from members of the Congress. In other words, there is a strong oversight role."

George W. Bush, speech encouraging the renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act

• Caption: President George W. Bush gestures as he addresses an audience Wednesday, July 20, 2005 at the Port of Baltimore in Baltimore, Md., encouraging the renewal of provisions of the Patriot Act.
• Source: White House photo by Eric Draper, original source, original image

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This image is a work of an employee of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

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