By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft began a public relations campaign yesterday to bolster support for the USA PATRIOT Act, which critics have assailed as infringing upon U.S. civil liberties (see GSN, July 24).

During a speech yesterday at the American Enterprise Institute here, Ashcroft defended the act, saying it has played a major role in the war on terrorism.

“We have used the tools provided in the PATRIOT Act to fulfill our first responsibility to protect the American people.  We have used these tools to prevent terrorists from unleashing more death and destruction on our soil.  We have used these tools to save innocent American lives.  We have used these tools to provide the security that ensures liberty,” Ashcroft said.

The act has helped to improve cooperation and information-sharing between intelligence and law enforcement officials, Ashcroft said.  The act has also aided law enforcement officials in tracking down and developing cases against suspected terrorist operatives, he said.

Ashcroft also unveiled a new U.S. Justice Department Web site, www.lifeandliberty.gov, which provides information on the PATRIOT Act and testimonials on its effectiveness from members of Congress and others. 

Despite the support of the Bush administration, the act has come under intense criticism from some members of Congress, civil-liberties organizations and state and local governments.  According to the American Civil Liberties Union, more than 150 communities throughout the country have passed resolutions calling for revisions to the act.  In addition, the ACLU has filed the first lawsuit against the act in an attempt to roll back Section 215, which allows the FBI to access library records without showing probable cause.

Ashcroft warned yesterday, however, against attempts to limit the scope and powers of the PATRIOT Act.

“The PATRIOT Act gives us the technological tools to anticipate, adapt and out-think our terrorist enemy,” Ashcroft said.  “To abandon these tools would senselessly imperil American lives and American liberty, and it would ignore the lessons of Sept. 11,” he said.

Ashcroft’s speech was the first of several planned events throughout the United States to bolster support for the PATRIOT Act.  He is also scheduled to deliver speeches to law enforcement officials in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit and Des Moines, Iowa, according to an FBI press release. 

The ACLU yesterday criticized Ashcroft’s speaking tour, calling it an attempt to gain support for policies that violate civil liberties.

“An attorney general going on the road, away from his official duties, to favorably spin policies violative of civil liberties is troubling, to say the least,” said Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, in a press release.  “It raises two serious questions:  Is this tour … political in nature and how prudent is it to be spending public money on a ‘PATRIOT Act’ charm offensive?” she added.

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