'Sneak and Peek' Searches Nearly Double

A “sneak and peak” search is the legalized breaking and entering, spying and theft by the state, without timely notification, under a provision in the purportedly anti-terror USA PATRIOT Act. As it urges congress to make the law permanent, the Bush administration informs us that these searches have nearly doubled over the last two years and the majority of them have nothing to do with terrorism investigations.

WASHINGTON – Justice Department investigators nearly doubled the rate at which they used a controversial new search-and-seizure power allowed under the USA Patriot Act during the past 22 months, according to data released by the Bush administration yesterday on the eve of congressional testimony by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Formally called delayed-notification searches, the warrants are known as “sneak and peek” because they allow investigators to search a person’s home or business and to seize property without disclosing for weeks or months that they were there. Although investigators must convince a judge that there is a “reasonable suspicion” that the investigation would be harmed if the subject were notified, no judge has ever denied a request for those searches.

Although the warrants are codified in a law enacted to fight terrorism, they are not limited to terrorism investigations. And, according to the Justice Department, investigators have increasingly resorted to the power since the Patriot Act became law shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.

The Justice Department said yesterday that the power was a valuable law enforcement tool for a “wide spectrum of criminal investigations, including those involving terrorism and drugs.”

But the American Civil Liberties Union said the release “confirms our worst fears” that the…

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