Message-Id: <200110030311.f933B7960694@wolverine.capwiz.com>
Content-type: text/plain
Date: Tue Oct  2 22:56:34 2001
Subject: Protecting Safety and Freedom
From: Matthew Belmonte <belmonte@MIT.EDU>

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Message sent to the following recipients:
Rep. Capuano
Message text follows:

Matthew Belmonte
[address]


October 2, 2001

[recipient address was inserted here]


 [recipient name was inserted here],

As your constituent, I urge you to oppose the `Provide Appropriate Tools 
Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (PATRIOT)' because it 
includes provisions that unreasonably restrict civil liberties and go 
beyond the powers necessary to fight terrorism on American soil.


The use of the events of 11 September as an excuse to weaken civil 
liberties would be paradoxical indeed.  The Attorney General must not be 
given the authority to indefinitely detain non-citizens who are ordered 
deported, but who the government has been unable to remove.  Incarceration 
of individuals is one of the most serious deprivations of liberty 
possible.  When such a substantial interest of liberty is at stake, the 
Constitution demands that adequate protection -- due process -- is 
provided to ensure that decisions are correct and fair. 

The government must also not be given expanded wiretap authority without 
close judicial oversight.  The wiretapping proposals in the PATRIOT Act 
sound a common theme: they minimize the role of a judge in ensuring that 
law enforcement wiretapping is conducted legally and with proper 
justification. Security and civil liberties do not have to be at odds so 
long as existing checks and balances remain in place.

Most importantly, intelligence agencies must not be given broad access to 
sensitive information about U.S. citizens and residents.  I have read that 
the PATRIOT Act would allow federal agencies, such as the CIA, to obtain 
information about U.S. citizens and residents without imposing meaningful 
limits on the future use or dissemination of that information.  These 
agencies should not be permitted to their Vietnam-era work of spying on 
Americans.

Again, I urge you to oppose this legislation because many of its 
provisions are not necessary to fight terrorism and would only make us 
less free.  Congress must not let terrorism win by weakening essential 
checks and balances on the authority of federal law enforcement.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this important matter.


Sincerely,


Matthew Belmonte