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One little-known fact about Biden is that he authored the [Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995][1]. This bill was a precursor to the PATRIOT Act in several way

One little-known fact about Biden is that he authored the [Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995][1]. This bill was a precursor to the PATRIOT Act in several ways, such as by ["allowing secret evidence to be used in prosecutions, expanding FISA and wiretap laws, creating a new federal crime of 'terrorism' that could be invoked based on political beliefs, permitting the U.S. military to be used in civilian law enforcement, and allowing permanent detention of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review."][2] See the Center for National Security Studies [analysis][3] (written in 1995) for more detailed info. In his own words: "I drafted a terrorism bill after the Oklahoma City bombing. And the bill John Ashcroft sent up was my bill" (his bill was actually introduced before the Oklahoma City bombing). [1]: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d104:s.00390 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d104:s.00390: [2]: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10024163-38.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.0 http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10024163-38.html?tag=newsL... [3]: http://w2.eff.org/Legislation/Bills_by_number/s390_hr896_95_cnss.analysis http://w2.eff.org/Legislation/Bills_by_number/s390_hr896_95_...

tptacek 14y ago
The anti-terrorism bill to which you refer does not simply criminalize political beliefs, as you imply; rather, it would have allowed prosecutions to raise federal terrorism charges for violent crimes if they met one 9 tests mostly having to do with deliberate attempts to disrupt commerce, target the US government explicitly, or involved people who were not US nationals. It was in that sense like "hate crimes" legislation. The indefinite detention provision concerned foreign nationals who could not be repatriated (which is a sticky problem everywhere), and provided for judicial review in the US DC Circuit. It was a stupid bill, but that doesn't mean we should be imprecise about it.
sneak 14y ago
I like your username.

tptacek 14y ago

The anti-terrorism bill to which you refer does not simply criminalize political beliefs, as you imply; rather, it would have allowed prosecutions to raise federal terrorism charges for violent crimes if they met one 9 tests mostly having to do with deliberate attempts to disrupt commerce, target the US government explicitly, or involved people who were not US nationals. It was in that sense like "hate crimes" legislation. The indefinite detention provision concerned foreign nationals who could not be repatriated (which is a sticky problem everywhere), and provided for judicial review in the US DC Circuit. It was a stupid bill, but that doesn't mean we should be imprecise about it.

sneak 14y ago

I like your username.