Prospect of surveillance laws expiring stirs discord

Last-minute measures may not be enough

— Barring a last-minute deal in Congress, three post-Sept. 11, 2001, surveillance laws used against suspected spies and terrorists are set to expire as Sunday turns into Monday.

Will that make Americans less secure?

Absolutely, Obama administration officials say.

Nonsense, counter civil liberties activists.

Even if senators set to meet in an unusual Sunday session agree to advance a Housepassed bill that extends the programs, one lawmaker says he will use his right to delay a final vote and let the powers lapse once midnight arrives.

“We do not need to give up who we are to defeat” terrorists, said Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a 2016 presidential candidate. “Therehastobeanotherway,” he said Saturday in a statement and on Twitter, pledging to force the expiration of an “illegal spy program.”

While there are compelling arguments on both sides, failure to pass legislation would mean new barriers for the government in domestic national security investigations, at a time when intelligence officials say the threat at home is growing.

“If these provisions expire,

Washington counterterrorism investigators are going to have greater restrictions on them than ordinary law enforcement investigators,” said Nathan Sales, a Syracuse University law professor and former Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration.

Until now, much of the debate has focused on the National Security Agency’s collection of Americans’ telephone calling records. This collection was authorized under one of the expiring provisions, Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Independent evaluations have cast doubt on that program’s importance, and even law enforcement officials say in private that losing this ability would not carry severe consequences.

Yet the fight over those records has jeopardized other surveillance programs that have broad, bipartisan support and could fall victim to congressional gridlock.

The FBI uses Section 215 to collect other business records tied to specific terrorism investigations. A separate section in the Patriot Act allows the FBI to eavesdrop, via wiretaps, on suspected terrorists or spies who discard phones to dodge surveillance. A third provision, targeting “lone wolf” attackers, has never been used and thus may not be missed if it lapses.

Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to accuse opponents of hijacking the debate for political reasons. “Terrorists like al-Qaida and ISIL aren’t suddenly going to stop plotting against us at midnight tomorrow, and we shouldn’t surrender the tools that help keep us safe,” he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

Civil liberties activists say the pre-Sept. 11 law gives the FBI enough authority to do its job. “The government has numerous other tools, including administrative and grand jury subpoenas, which would enable it to gather necessary information,” in terrorism investigations, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.

Sunday’s Senate session became necessary after the chamber failed to act before leaving town early on May 23 for a holiday break. The USA Freedom Act, which the House passed overwhelmingly, fell three votes short of the 60 needed to proceed in the Senate, and efforts to extend the current law also failed.

If the USA Freedom Act, sponsored by Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, were to become law, the business records provision and the roving wiretap authority would return immediately. The NSA would resume collecting American telephone records for a sixmonth period while shifting to a system of searching phone company records case by case. If no agreement is reached, all the provisions will expire.

A third possibility is a temporary extension of current law while lawmakers work out a deal, but House members have expressed opposition.