Lawmakers want more disclosure on Patriot Act News
Lawmakers want more disclosure on Patriot Act

[JURIST] Members of the US Senate Intelligence Committee [official website] told senior Bush administration officials Wednesday that lack of disclosure regarding enforcement of the Patriot Act was hurting efforts to renew 15 key provisions set to expire at the end of this year. Senators noted public concerns about govermment spying prompted by insufficient information about the act, and complained that they themselves had not recieved a promised report on FBI use of a provision requiring ISPs and other businesses to hand over consumer or subscriber information. US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [Gonzales-Mueller joint testimony, PDF], FBI Director Robert Mueller and CIA Director Porter Gross [prepared testimony] defended the act as having facilitated key arrests and prosecutions, including that of Islamic scholar Ali al-Timimi, convicted Tuesday [JURIST report] of inciting his followers to holy war and joining the Taliban against the United States in the wake of the September 11 attacks. AP has more.