Fearmongering in the Face of Patriot Act Expiration

The clock is ticking as certain provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire Sunday at midnight. If the Senate doesn’t act (something they are usually great at), Section 215 of the Patriot Act will expire. The government has been using Section 215 of the Patriot Act to authorize the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ data.

Now, as the clock winds down, government officials are trying the scare the American people and elected officials into thinking the world will end on Monday if the Patriot Act is allowed to expire. From The Intercept:

Enter the New York Times. An article this morning by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, in the first paragraph, cites anonymous Obama officials warning that “failing to would suspend crucial domestic surveillance authority at a time of mounting terrorism threats.” Behold the next two paragraphs:

“What you’re doing, essentially, is you’re playing national security Russian roulette,” one senior administration official said of allowing the powers to lapse. That prospect appears increasingly likely with the measure, the USA Freedom Act, stalled and lawmakers in their home states and districts during a congressional recess.

“We’re in uncharted waters,” another senior member of the administration said at a briefing organized by the White House, where three officials spoke with reporters about the consequences of inaction by Congress. “We have not had to confront addressing theterrorist threat without these authorities, and it’s going to befraught with unnecessary risk.”

Those two paragraphs, courtesy of the Obama White House and the Paper of Record, have it all: the principal weapons that have poisoned post-9/11 political discourse in the U.S.

Campaign for Liberty is working hard to turn up the heat on fence-sitting senators to let them know that the American people want the Patriot Act to expire. Sign you petition to your Senators here.