PATRIOT ACT GOES BEYOND TERROR

Govermnent Using Expanded Authority to Fight Child Porn, Drugs, Blackmail
and Other Crimes

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration, which calls the USA Patriot Act
perhaps its most essential tool in fighting terrorists, has begun
using the law with increasing frequency in criminal investigations
that have little or no connection to terrorism.

The government is using its expanded authority under the far-reaching
law to investigate suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals,
blackmailers, child pornographers, money launderers, spies and even
corrupt foreign leaders, federal officials said.

Justice Department officials say they simply are using all the tools
available to them to pursue criminals - terrorists or otherwise. But
critics of the administration's antiterrorism tactics say such use of
the law is evidence the administration has misled the public, using
terrorism as a guise to pursue broader goals.

A new Justice Department report, given to members of Congress this
month, cites more than a dozen cases not directly related to
terrorism. In them, federal authorities have used their expanded power
to investigate individuals, initiate wiretaps and other surveillance,
or seize millions in tainted assets.

For instance, the ability to secure nationwide warrants to obtain
e-mail and electronic evidence "has proved invaluable in several
sensitive nonterrorism investigations," including the tracking of an
unidentified fugitive and an investigation into a computer hacker who
stole a company's trade secrets, the report said.

Department officials said the cases cited represent only a small
sampling of the hundreds of nonterrorism cases pursued under the law.

Authorities also have used their expanded authority to track private
Internet communications in order to investigate a major drug
distributor, a four-time killer, an identity thief and a fugitive who
fled on the eve of trial by using a fake passport.

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties
Union, said, "Once the American public understands that many of the
powers granted to the federal government apply to much more than just
terrorism, I think the opposition will gain momentum."

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary
Committee, said Congress expected some of the new powers to be used
for nonterrorism investigations.

But he said the Justice Department's secrecy and lack of cooperation
in putting the legislation into effect have made him question whether
"the government is taking shortcuts around the criminal laws" by
invoking intelligence powers - with differing standards of evidence -
to conduct surveillance operations and demand access to records.

Department officials said such criticism had not deterred
them.

"There are many provisions in the Patriot Act that can be used in the
general criminal law," Mark Corallo, a department spokesman, said.

"And I think any reasonable person would agree that we have an
obligation to do everything we can to protect the lives and liberties
of Americans from attack, whether it's from terrorists or
garden-variety criminals."