“He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither”
—Benjamin Franklin
It’s been eight long years since attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon inspired a sense of unbridled panic. Amidst this frantic chaos – with stock markets falling so fast that trading was halted for several days – the USA PATRIOT Act was quietly passed into law…and the American people were introduced to the worst legislative attack on the Constitution since President John Adams and the 1789 Alien and Sedition Laws.
Well, this week – eight years later – the U.S. Congress will hold hearings on extending three provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that expire at the end of this year.
At the same time, civil liberties groups and some Democrat senators are pressing for changes to Bush era surveillance laws that might revive some of the Fourth Amendment protections the PATRIOT Act has all but destroyed.
The Act’s name itself is a public relations acronym. It stands for the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act,” Public Law No. 107-56.
Both the House and the Senate are set to hold committee hearings this week on re-authorizing sections that expanded the power of the F.B.I. to seize personal and financial records without a warrant and to eavesdrop without court approval on phone calls in counter terrorism investigations.
Restoring the Fourth Amendment?
A group of U.S. senators who support greater privacy protections introduced a bill, S.1686, last week that would impose new safeguards on the PATRIOT Act while tightening restrictions on other surveillance policies.
Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisc), the chief sponsor, was the only senator who had the courage to vote against the Act when it was first adopted in 2001. The measure is co-sponsored by nine Democrats, an independent and no Republicans.
Some want to use the extension bill to restrict the FBI’s use of so-called “national security letters” – administrative subpoenas that allow agents to seize business records without obtaining permission from a judge which in the past was required. Agents have used this device tens of thousands of times each year.
The Justice Department’s inspector general issued two reports finding that FBI agents frequently abused these letters in obtaining bank, credit card and telephone records.
Last week Obama called on Congress to re-authorize the expiring provisions, but Ronald Weich, assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, expressed an open mind about new surveillance restrictions…
“We are aware that members of Congress may propose modifications to provide additional protection for the privacy of law abiding Americans,” Mr. Weich wrote, adding that “the administration is willing to consider such ideas, provided that they do not undermine the effectiveness of these important authorities.”
I hope that statement is sincere.
But remember, dear friend…it was presidential candidate Barack Obama who criticized the PATRIOT Act and promised, if elected, to reform it.
Rather than make improvements, Obama has since endorsed and adopted as his own questionable Bush policies of prolonged detention without charges, and surveillance of Americans without warrants or probable cause. Obama has indicated he may even go further, requesting new powers to arrest and detain people without charges, a direct violation of the Constitution.
Assault on Financial Privacy
The section of the PATRIOT Act, (125 of 362 pages), that pertains to U.S. banking and finance is the greatest single governmental assault on personal and financial privacy in American history.
The net result was that American banks and financial institutions, indeed all U.S. businesses, by law now are required to spy on their clients, “know their customers” and report any “suspicious activity” to the government.
Understand that this Act, then and now, is still sold as being an “anti-terrorist” law.
In fact, the Act’s police powers have been used broadly to investigate and prosecute all types of crimes, many having nothing to do with terrorism. In 2004, two federal judges secretly ruled that the Act could be used to investigate any criminal or other pending charges, even if unrelated to terrorism.
Strategies to Shield You
The PATRIOT Act’s powers operate mainly within the United States. That means you should arrange your investments, cash, assets, record keeping and financial information in a way that maximizes your privacy, including the use of structures located offshore. Three major moves to consider:
1. Move some of your assets to offshore jurisdictions that guarantee privacy by law. Foreign insurance contracts, annuities, foreign real estate and offshore precious metals holdings all are examples of legal investments that, even under the PATRIOT Act, are difficult for the U.S. government to seize.
2. Create one or more offshore legal entities, such as an asset protection trust or private family foundation. Pick a maximum privacy country and your name as owner is not a public record and can be kept confidential unless a local court orders otherwise. An offshore entity can also provide asset protection against frozen bank accounts or attempts at civil asset forfeiture.
3. Choose an offshore country as your base of business operations and possibly, as your home. In tax haven or maximum privacy nations such as Panama, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra, Belize, Singapore, Uruguay and the Cook Islands, information is not surrendered automatically to demands by foreign governments or lawsuits, even under the newly imposed OECD tax information exchange rules. We Can Help…
Sincerely,
Bob Bauman, JD
Source: Sovereign Society