Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism

The Senate and House of Representatives enacted the USA Patriot Act on October 25, 2001, six weeks after the September 11th terrorist attacks. The purpose of the act was to “To deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes”.

The section that most significantly affects librarians is Section 215: Access to records and other items under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Aka “The Library Records Provision”.

215 states: “The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or a designee of the Director (whose rank shall be no lower than Assistant Special Agent in Charge) may make an application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution”.

Basically, this section is an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that gives the FBI the authority to order a person or institution to turn over “any tangible thing” that the FBI may need in an authorized investigation “to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities”. This section refers specifically to books, records, papers and documents, but is not limited to these items. In Section 215, the FBI does not need to show probable cause. Those served with a Section 215 Order are forbidden from disclosing the investigation to anyone else, and in some cases, the person being investigated doesn’t even know that they are under surveillance.

Under Section 215, an individual’s personal library records can be used as the impetus for FBI surveillance. This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression. 215 also violates the Fourth Amendment right to probable cause and fair notice after a compromise in privacy, and the Fifth Amendment right to due process.