On Thursday evening, April 10, at 5:30 PM the League of Women Voters of Virginia, the League of Women Voters of the Richmond Metropolitan Area and the Library of Virginia will present three nationally known legal experts discussing the USA Patriot Act and its implications for national security and civil liberty. The USA Patriot Act gives federal officials greater authority to track and intercept communications, both for law enforcement and foreign intelligence gathering purposes. It vests the Secretary of the Treasury with regulatory powers to combat corruption of U.S. financial institutions for foreign money laundering purposes. It seeks to further close U.S. borders to foreign terrorists and to detain and remove those within our borders. It creates new crimes, new penalties and new procedural efficiencies for use against domestic and international terrorists. The Act is attracting critics who contend it goes too far and others who say it is not strong enough. Speakers for National Security versus Civil Liberty: A Forum on the USA Patriot Act include Lee S. Strickland, an employee of the CIA and Visiting Professor in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland; Mark Eckenwiler, Deputy Chief of Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property at the U.S. Department of Justice; and Rodney A. Smolla, Allen Professor of Law at the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond. A question-and-answer period will follow the discussion. Lee Strickland will start the program with an overview of the USA Patriot Act. Mark Eckenwiler will speak to the necessity of this legislation in ensuring our national security. Rodney Smolla will comment on how this legislation affects our civil liberty The public is invited to attend this free program in the Lecture Hall of the Library of Virginia, located at 800 East Broad Street in historic downtown Richmond. There is free parking for this event under the Library. Jan Hathcock Public Relations Officer Library of Virginia 804-692-3592 To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html