ACLU - Recommendations for Congress lyrics

1. Congress must intensify its oversight of all FBI policies and practices, particularly those that implicate Americans' constitutional rights. The collection, retention, and sharing of personally identifying information about Americans without facts establishing a reasonable indication of criminal activity poses serious risks to liberty and democracy, and the evidence of abuse is overwhelming. The lessons of the past have been ignored and we are increasingly seeing a return to abusive intelligence operations that target protest groups and religious and racial minorities. Congress must particularly examine FBI activities abroad, where Americans' due process rights and safety are at greatest risk. 2. Congress must narrow the FBI's intelligence and investigative authorities through statute. The Attorney General's Guidelines are changed too often and too easily, and the FBI too often fails to comply with them. 3. Though the FISA Amendments Act and several Patriot Act-related surveillance provisions are set to expire in 2015, new evidence of abuse of these authorities demonstrates that Congress can't wait. Congress should immediately repeal Section 215 of the Patriot Act and Section 702 of FISA. 4. Congress must examine and evaluate all information collection and an*lysis practices and bring an end to any government activities that are illegal, ineffective, or prone to abuse. Congress should conduct a comprehensive review of all expanded post-9/11 intelligence authorities so thoughtful and effective reforms can be implemented. 5. Congress must amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to require a probable cause warrant before the government can search and seize online records and communications, just as it needs to search documents in the mail or in our homes and offices. Congress should evaluate ECPA sealing and delayed notice provisions to ensure maximum transparency regarding law enforcement surveillance activities. 6.Congress must not implement or fund new intelligence programs without empirical evidence that they effectively improve security and can be implemented without undue impact on privacy and civil rights. We should not sacrifice our liberty for the illusion of security. Any new effort to expand information collection, sharing, or an*lysis must be accompanied by independent oversight mechanisms and rigorous standards to maintain the accuracy, timeliness, and usefulness of the information and to ensure the privacy of innocent individuals is preserved. Congress should adopt the National Research Council recommendations to require the FBI and other federal agencies to employ a systematic process to evaluate the “effectiveness, lawfulness and consistency with U.S. values” of all automated data mining systems before they are deployed and subject them to “robust, independent oversight” thereafter.296 7.Congress must pa** the End Racial Profiling Act and ban racial profiling in all government intelligence and law enforcement programs. 8. Congress must pa** the State Secrets Protection Act, which would restore the states secrets privilege to its common law origin as an evidentiary privilege by prohibiting the dismissal of cases prior to discovery. Congress must ensure independent judicial review of government state secrets claims by requiring courts to examine the evidence and make their own a**essments of whether disclosure could reasonably pose a significant risk to national security. 9. Congress must establish due process mechanisms so Americans placed on the No Fly List or other terrorism watch lists that implicate their rights can effectively challenge the government's actions.