WASHINGTON, April 16 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush said Saturday Congress must heed a lesson of September 2001 and renew provisions of the Patriot Act to thwart new terrorism.
Bush said passage of the law following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington helped eliminate barriers to information sharing between domestic policing and intelligence agencies, and contributed to the disruption of terror cells in at least six American cities.
"To abandon the Patriot Act would deprive law enforcement and intelligence officers of needed tools in the war on terror, and demonstrate willful blindness to a continuing threat," he said in his weekly radio address.
Added Bush; "Because we passed the Patriot Act, FBI agents can better conduct electronic surveillance and wiretaps on suspected terrorists. And they now can apply other essential tools -- many of which have long been used to investigate white-collar criminals and drug traffickers -- to stop terrorist attacks on our homeland."
More than a dozen provisions of the Patriot Act will expire at the end of next year. Critics believe the act is a threat to civil liberties and want some provisions eliminated.
