◆ SpookStack

We have gol to get this balance correct. And nothing could be more critical, because some of the most unthoughtful critics of the Patriot Act candidly will be the first ones when there's another 9/11 and when we didn't get the information accurately ahead of time to stop, maybe not 3,000 or 4,000 people, but 300,000 or 400,000 people -- they'll be the first ones jumping on the administration, the Justice Department and the FBI for not doing its job. But those of us trying to strike a thoughtful balance between civil liberties and between the need to protect America from this new threat are very, very concerned about what we've heard. And if the FBI doesn't take this to heart, we will correct the problem. I don't think anybody could have said it better than Jim Sensenbrenner -- again, a supporter of the Patriot Act -- who said that the overreaching that's apparent here within the FBI is going to erode support, if it hasn't already, from very important national security initiatives. And I would hope that everybody down at Justice is listening, because this is the supporters -- people like Lungren and Feeney and Sensenbrenner -- that are telling you this isn’t right, and it can't continue. Mr. Fine, do you have an opinion as to whether or not the serious problems that you've discovered in initial compliance with the Patriot Act are largely because of ambiguities or poorly structured legislation? Is it statutory language that was the problem largely here, or is it abuses within the FBI in compliance? FINE: I don't think it was the statutory language that was ambiguous. I think it was the execution of the policy by the FBI that was woefully inadequate, FEENEY: And just to follow up, can you identify or does your -- does your report and investigation lead you to conclude that there are any important statutory improvements we could make? I realize it's not in your typical arena to give us advice, but are there any specific pieces of advice that you would give the Congress in terms of oversight or statutory reforms here? FINE: Well, you're correct: It is not in my arena to do that. What | try and do is present the facts to this committee and Congress, and let the facts lead this committee and Congress to do what they believe is appropriate. There is one section of the report that does talk about an ambiguity in the meaning of tol] billing records. I think there ought to be something done about that, because that was a concern of what that meant, and it should be clarified. I do think in... FEENEY: Could the A.G. do that by opinion?