On the 7th of February, 2003, the Center for Public Integrity released a confidential government document it had got hold of. The document is a draft of a new bill titled the "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003". The legislation was drafted by the staff of Attorney General John Ashcroft. It is intended to be a modification and extension of the Patriot act which was passed just after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
This bill is very bad news for civil, and human rights. It seeks to greatly extend the powers and authority of law enforcement and the secret service, so that they may combat terrorism more effectively. Under this bill, chemical industries are no longer required to disclose information about the security (and likeliness of spillage) at their plants. Also, the need for a search warrant can be waived, and people can be held indefinitely and without bail, simply by declaring them to be suspected terrorists.
The most disturbing thing, in my opinion, is the section 501, about "Expatriation of Terrorists". It states that a persons intent to relinquish his or her citizenship of the USA can be "inferred from conduct". This means that supporters of terrorists (a greatly widened definition under this new legislation) can be expatriated, meaning that their citizenship can be taken away without their consent. That is in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 15:
"(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality . (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality."
It seems to me that this proposed legislation is a major step towards what can only be called a police state.
Sources:
http://www.thismodernworld.com/ (where I first read about this)
http://www.publicintegrity.org/dtawebreport.asp?ReportID=502&L1=10&L2=10&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/lewis.html