U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on the Judiciary
F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman
_______________________________________
News Advisory
For immediate release
Contact: Jeff Lungren/Terry Shawn (Sensenbrenner)
April 1, 2003 202-225-2492
Dena Graziano (Conyers)
202-226-6888
Committee Requests Oversight Information from Justice Department Regarding USA PATRIOT Act and Other Issues Related to War on Terrorism
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The House Judiciary Committee today requested extensive information from the Justice Department regarding the Department’s implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act anti-terrorism law and other issues related to the war on terrorism. The request was made in an eighteen-page letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft by House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) and Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.).
The letter states, “As the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, it is our responsibility to conduct oversight of the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat terrorism, which includes implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act (‘Act’) signed into law by President Bush on October 26, 2001. In response to our letter of June 13, 2002, you provided us with information regarding the use of these new tools, which helped us to understand the complexity and extensive scope of the effort to implement the law.
The Department of Justice has also been faced with significant new challenges to which it has responded using existing authorities as well as those contained in the Act. This letter seeks information regarding the use of preexisting authorities and the new authorities conferred by the Act.”
The full text of the letter is available at http://www.house.gov/judiciary/patriot040103.htm.
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