President George W. Bush on Friday signed legislation extending key provisions of the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act until Feb. 3, despite earlier objecting to anything short of a permanent renewal, according to Reuters. Bush had strongly pushed for a permanent renewal before the provisions expired at year-end, but Congress passed a temporary extension to allow more time to consider civil liberties protections. The Patriot Act expanded the authority of the federal government to conduct secret searches, obtain private records, intercept telephone calls, among other activities, to hunt for suspected terrorists. "He's going to work hard with the Congress to make sure that we get that important law renewed," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. "Our law enforcement community needs this, he's not satisfied with a one-month extension. But we've got to get that in place, and we've got to work with them to get it permanently re-extended," he said. The debate over whether some of the provisions infringe too much on civil liberties became more heated after the revelation that Bush authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on communications by Americans with suspected ties to terrorists without seeking a court order. --SP 23 42 Local Time 20 42 GMT
