In Deep: The FBI, the CIA, and the Truth about America's "Deep State"

by David Rohde

Forty-five days after 9/11, Congress overwhelmingly passed the USA PATRIOT Act—an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” The sweeping, 343-page measure was the most dramatic change in American privacy law since the Church reforms. Section 215 of the law allowed the FBI and NSA, with the approval of a FISA Court judge, to seize or monitor the personal records of Americans held by phone companies, political groups, universities, churches, public libraries, bookstores, medical offices, and other institutions without informing those targeted. Section 505 vastly expanded the power of the FBI to issue “national security letters” that force internet service providers, financial firms, and credit companies to secretly hand over personal customer records without prior court approval and without informing the customer. Section 213 authorized “sneak and peek” searches, which allowed the FBI, with the approval of a judge, to search an individual’s home or business without notifying them.