NYT ED: Excessive Powers

August 27, 2005

When John Ashcroft was the attorney general, he railed against the "hysteria" of critics of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows the government to search library records. The number of times Section 215 had been used to search libraries was, Mr. Ashcroft declared, zero. But civil libertarians opposed the provision not because they knew it had been used - searches under Section 215 are secret - but because they expected it would be.

It turns out that they were right to be concerned. The American Civil Liberties Union has just reported that the F.B.I. demanded library records from a Connecticut institution by using another troubling Patriot Act provision that authorizes a tool known as a national security letter. The A.C.L.U. says it cannot identify the institution or specify the nature of the request because of federal secrecy rules. But this is the first confirmed instance of the F.B.I.'s use of the Patriot Act to demand library records.

The Connecticut library inquiry follows on the heels of an American Library Association report that law enforcement officials have made at least 200 inquiries to libraries about reading materials and other internal matters since October 2001. In some cases, the officers issued subpoenas; in others, they relied on informal requests.