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Letters: Congress should block expansion of Patriot Act


Sunday, April 27, 2003



Congress should block expansion of Patriot Act powers


It is disgraceful that Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, seeks to repeal the sunset provisions of the so-called USA Patriot Act I ("Expand the Patriot Act? Instead, order a review," April 15 editorial). This act was passed in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, when Congress was running for cover. In fact, it was passed so quickly that most members of Congress failed even to read it.

Indeed, former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia admits that he voted for it without reading it. He also admits that the act went too far in invading the privacy of citizens. Mr. Barr now has joined with ex-Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas, and an unlikely ally, the ACLU, in an attempt to roll back some of the provisions, such as the one that gives the FBI the right to obtain from libraries and bookstores a list of customers and what they are reading.

As The Post indicated in its editorial, Patriot II goes even further. Why would President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft seek to obtain DNA from every person arrested in this country? In essence, they gain the DNA for not only one person but a connection to all of that person's blood relatives. Why?

It is mind-boggling that our representatives would seek to give more power to the FBI, which has a history of spying and blackmailing politicians, of spying on civil rights leaders, of attempting to frame Richard Jewell for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bombing and of giving a free pass to Whitey Bulger, who ordered the murders of dozens of people while acting as an FBI informant.

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New FBI lab hailed as 'best in the world'



Photo by Mike Morones / The Free Lance-Star
The FBI's Laboratory Division has completed its move into a new facility at Quantico from FBI headquarters in Washington.
Click for larger photo.


FBI officials dedicate new crime laboratory at Quantico Marine Corps Base.

By PAMELA GOULD


The FBI officially dedicated its new $130 million crime laboratory on the grounds of Quantico Marine Corps Base yesterday.

Calling it "the best laboratory of its kind in the world," Lab Director Dwight Adams told a crowd of roughly 1,000 that the facility has come a long way from its genesis 70 years ago with one $590 microscope.

The new structure--complete with $25 million worth of new equipment--is the FBI's first facility designed exclusively for analyzing crime-scene evidence. At 463,000 square feet, it provides the bureau's forensic scientists nearly triple the workspace they had while at FBI headquarters in Washington.

Renowned forensic scientist Henry Lee was among the guests attending yesterday's event and said he sees the new structure as the next step in the bureau's distinguished forensic history. Lee called the five-story structure "the most-modern facility ever built" in forensics.

"You need a good facility, good instrumentation and good scientists--now they have all three, and I'm sure they can serve the law-enforcement community much, much better because of it," said Lee, who is chief emeritus of the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory.

Yesterday's event honored past lab directors as well current and former employees. It also recognized the people remembered in its motto: Behind every case is a victim--man, woman or child--and the people who care for them.

Phyliss Silva, whose 16-year-old daughter Sofia was killed in 1996, attended the opening to support the scientists who last summer helped identify the teen's killer.

"I wouldn't have missed it," the Spotsylvania County woman said, her older daughter Pam seated beside her.

FBI Director Robert Mueller spoke yesterday of the importance of the scientists' work in helping "support freedom and the cause of justice" and the vision he has for the staff of 650.

"When it comes to forensic science, no one does it better than the people in the forensic laboratory," he said.

"I know many of you have seen CSI," he added, referring to the hit TV program about crime-scene investigators. "You can set it aside. These people are the real things."

Beyond complimenting the men and women for their past accomplishments, Mueller provided them a glimpse into his expectations for what he called "a new era."

"It is here," he said, "you will write the next chapters in forensic excellence."

[Publicus]

Such slothful, corrupt or otherwise incompetent individuals also humiliate our nation's image and undermine our ability to lead by example. They are simply not worth protecting.

In fact, they are more dangerous than Al-Qaeda because they secretly undermine us from within. At least Al-Qaeda has the decency to openly declare hostile intentions.